Subject: [Meta-info (non-cyg specific)] (RE: >/dev/stderr broken in /bin/sh?, makewhatis unhappy, & apropos confused, or just me?)
From: "linda w \(cyg\)" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Cc: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:44:17 -0800

> Replies inline below.  Incidentally, why did your message arrive twice
> from two different "From:" addresses?  And which should the
> replies go to?
---
	One address is subscribed to the list, the other is not.
Normally, if one responds to 'all', it goes to the OP and the list.
If one just hits "respond", it just goes to {OP|list} depending on
the list.  Sometimes I forget which lists respond to OP and which
respond to list, and lazily hit Respond-all.  Some people are bothered
when they receive an extra copy of a post, other people I've seen
take it as a sign of "deception" -- by not including a response to
their note directly to them.  Most people who've been on the internet
a while realize these conventions and ignore the direct or lack of
a direct post as 'noise'.

	In this circumstance one could note that one email address,
not normally used on the cygwin[-X] lists came to them personally
and even though it also was addressed to a 'cygX' list, didn't show
up a 2nd time -- though a 2nd message did show up under the normal
address associated with this person's cyg postings.  Logically,
the first posting that was to you and the list succeeded in reaching
you, but bounced because that posting address was not on the list and
the person, realizing that, reposted under the correct address.

	All rather elementary, no?

	As for why different from addresses -- I get spam sent to
'cygwin'@mydomain, 'bind'@mydomain, but never [yet], say to 'MSMoney'
(used for registration) -- except for the advertising for tax software
from HRBlock.

	Haven't you ever done this with snail-mail?  For magazine
subscriptions, I may use a different middle initial, or first name --
even my dogs' names.  Then I get to see what junk mail comes to me
from where and which magazine's shared my name with who.  With
email registrations it's the same and with email lists you can see
what lists are harvested for email spam and which lists seem to either
be ignored by spam harvesters or have software in place to protect
list members.

	Since maintaining email list subscriptions takes time and
bandwidth, it's easier for harvesters to skim list archives for
things that look like email addresses.  Some list archivers care
about this and take varying degrees of counter measures from no
email address display (display name only), or require a second click
from a thread page to display the email posters address -- and on
that page, possibly displaying it as a series of GIF letters, or 1
combined gif/jpg image formed on the fly.  Thus a human can read
the address, most automated scavenging software cannot.  Since the
addresses are only displayed if a user takes the extra work to click
on a poster's address -- and only 1 address is shown per page, then
it's not that large of an extra load to generate such an image on the
fly with a script.

	As for which address to post to -- normal usenet etiquette
would say that information posted to you personally and not to
a list should not be reposted publically.

	If it was me receiving such and I *noticed* it (as you did),
I'd probably post to the address that I received via the public
channel if I was posting a response to that channel out of usenet
etiquette protocols.  But in many cases I don't think I would even
notice -- since mail that comes to me directly goes into my inbox,
but email that comes from a list redirector usually goes into a
list-specific subfolder.

	I'll try to answer the OT later...have to run to a meeting...
Linda

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