Abstract: A system and method for restricting replies to an original electronic mail message are provided. The system and method may provide a mechanism for allowing a composer of an electronic mail message to specify whether or not responses or replies from particular recipients, e.g., secondary recipients, of an electronic mail message are permitted. The illustrative embodiments provide an interface through which a user may specify, for example, that an electronic mail message that is being composed can only be replied to from electronic mail addresses that are associated with primary recipients of the electronic mail message, e.g., recipients whose electronic mail addresses are in a “TO” field of the electronic mail message. In other illustrative embodiments, the interface provides control mechanisms through which a user may individually specify which recipients of an electronic mail message may or may not reply to the electronic mail message.

Abstract: A method, article, and system for providing a sender of an electronic mail message (hereafter referred to as email) a means to specify to a recipient a reply length constraint for the text body of the reply message, as well as criteria for the size, number, and type of allowed attachments associated with the reply message. The sender specified reply length constraints for the text message body can be stated in terms of number of lines, number of sentences, and/or by word count. The sender reply attachment constraints can be specified in terms of number of attachment files, maximum size per attachment, and/or receiver supported file types. The method includes having the sender determine the desired reply message constraints or parameters prior to sending out a message, and appending the constraint parameters to the outgoing email.