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replying to postings on the archives listserv



Hello,

I have a question concerning the Archives and Archivists listserv.
Currently, if a person(in an attempt to reply to a message posted to the
whole list) hits their reply button, the address that appears in the To:
section of their reply message is the address of the individual poster of
the message. It used to be that hitting the reply button made the address of
the entire listserv appear in the To: section. This new mechanism has
certainly eliminated a number of accidental postings - those that were meant
for individuals and not for the whole list. However, may I respectfully
suggest that this mechanism has also somewhat reduced the helpfulness of the
list. Last December I posted a question to the list regarding fees for
scanning. I received half a dozen helpful replies, all posted to me
personally (most likely because these people hit their reply button, and my
individual e-mail address appeared, not the listserv address). Recently I
received a request from someone who wanted information about fees for
scanning, and he asked me if I had received any other replies to my posting
of last December. I forwarded him the messages I received. This person had
looked in the listserv archives, and found only one posting there about this
subject.

I wonder if perhaps people could consider if the subject they are discussing
merits a posting to the entire list. Very often, people post good questions
to this list, but replies are never seen, they are all going to the
individual. If people would post their replies to questions that have
relevance to a large number of people to the whole list, I think it would
make the listserv archives much more useful. And all it requires (at least
on my e-mail system) is hitting the "reply to all" button instead of the
usual "reply" button. Perhaps the question people could ask themselves as
they reply to questions is - is this a topic I would want to look up in the
archives of the listerv?

Thanks,

Fran

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