This is the address set in the <tt>Reply-To:</tt> header
when the <a
href="?VARHELP=general/reply_goes_to_list">reply_goes_to_list</a>
option is set to <em>Explicit address</em>.
<p>There are many reasons not to introduce or override the
<tt>Reply-To:</tt> header. One is that some posters depend on
their own <tt>Reply-To:</tt> settings to convey their valid
return address. Another is that modifying <tt>Reply-To:</tt>
makes it much more difficult to send private replies. See <a
href="http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html">`Reply-To'
Munging Considered Harmful</a> for a general discussion of this
issue. See <a
href="http://www.metasystema.net/essays/reply-to.mhtml">Reply-To
Munging Considered Useful</a> for a dissenting opinion.
<p>Some mailing lists have restricted posting privileges, with a
parallel list devoted to discussions. Examples are `patches' or
`checkin' lists, where software changes are posted by a revision
control system, but discussion about the changes occurs on a
developers mailing list. To support these types of mailing
lists, specify the explicit <tt>Reply-To:</tt> address here. You
must also specify <tt>Explicit address</tt> in the
<tt>reply_goes_to_list</tt>
variable.
<p>Note that if the original message contains a
<tt>Reply-To:</tt> header, it will not be changed.