hi all

At 05:09 1999/11/13 -0800, Sir James mumbled:
>Could someone help me get my foot out of my mouth
>and explain how to respond privately. So one doesn't
>make a fool of one's self ( too late )

yikes
and i thought you were just 'full of magnetic charm' this morning!

since everyone uses different e-mail software
and some e-mail software follows internet e-mail standards
and some sort-of do
and some sort-of don't
it's kind-of tough to give you specific instructions

please note:
the following applies to regular individual list messages
not DIGESTs

in brief:
copy the address you want to use
using the copy command
and
replace the PARKINSN address in your 'automatic reply' with it
using the paste command

in long:
in my case {eudora lite 3.0 and windows 3.1]
the "user-friendly" headers on your message to the list show up as follows:

>Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]>
>Date:        Sat, 13 Nov 1999 05:09:36 -0800
>From:        SIR JAMES1st <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:     Re: Foot removal
>To:          [log in to unmask]

which cyber-dee-gook makes sense [eventually],
since the message originally was
"From:" Sir James and was sent by him / you
"To:" the PARKINSN listserv for distribution to all of us fence posts!

the "Return-Path:" header indicates where my reply to your message
will go or be sent or 'be returned to';
that is,
IF
[and that is a big IF]
i select the command that my e-mail software uses
to send an answer or response to the message
that i am currently reading

[in eudora, the menu command is "Message | Reply"
and the short-cut-key command is "CTRL-R"]

this 'semi-automatic' reply function saves a lot of typing;
several headers are filled in automatically:

1. it fills in the "From:" header with my name and e-mail address;
2. it fills in the "Subject:" header with a "Re:" in front;
3. it fills in the "Date:" header with the current date;

as well as

4. it "quotes" the original message in the style i specified during set-up
[i.e. all of the original message is repeated in the answer message
with "e-mail quote marks - >" at the front of each line]
[unless you are an AOLian]

and most pertinent to the subject at hand:

5. it fills in the "To:" header in my answer message
with the address from the "Reply-To:" header in your original message

so
instructing eudora to "reply" to your original message
while i have it open in a window
casues eudora to create a new answer message in a new window
with these headers automatically filled in for me:

>To:       "Parkinson's Information Exchange Network" <[log in to unmask]>
>From:     janet paterson <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:  Re: Foot removal
>Cc:
>Bcc:
>Attachments:

[the "Date:" header will be filled in automatically when my message is sent]

the wonders of e-mail cyber-dee-gook headers are partially revealed
when you compare
the "Reply-To:" header on your original message with
the "To:" header on my answer message;
one of the hidden "user-unfriendly" headers in your message tells eudora that
"[log in to unmask]" really means
"[log in to unmask]"

also, now's my chance to make any additions or adjustments
to the subject header if i want to, viz from:
>Subject:  Re: Foot removal
to
>Subject:  Re: Foot removal / E-Mail 101 - Replying to mail

isn't technology grand?

... where was i?

oh yes,
the above describes how the 'semi-automatic' reply function works,
which is what you DON'T want to know,
right?

what you DO want to know, is how to get the name in the
"From:" header on the original message into the
"To:" header on the answer message,
right?

in my case, i can 'switch' back and forth from
your original message to my answer message

[in eudora, the menu command is "Window | Number"
or the short-cut-key command is "CTRL-TAB" ]

so
i would then:

1. "Edit | Copy" your address in the "From:" header in your original message
2. "high-light" the current address in the "To:" header of my answer message
[i.e. the PARKINSN list address]
3. "Edit | Paste" your address into the "To:" header on my answer message,
thus replacing the PARKINSN address with yours

the Windows/Mac standard "copy, cut, and paste" text editing function
was my first experience with "word processing"  in 1982
and i haven't been the same since

if you don't know how to do it
get someone to show you
or look in "help"


janet

janet paterson
52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
e-mail - [log in to unmask]
web-site -  http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/6263/