This question is anonymous for the obvious reason.

I wrote to a journal asking about the status of a paper I had submitted. In his reply the editor inadvertently included information that let me deduce the identity of the referee. This is unfortunate, but I think I will passively say nothing to him; otherwise I am interfering with the editor/referee relation, which can be interpreted in the wrong way (e.g. as in twisting his arm to influence the acceptance decision).

Clearly I will not go around mentioning this to colleagues, with or without names, BUT I am not so sure about sharing this with my coauthor.

• On the one hand, it seems I should just not say anything to anyone.

• On the other hand, if I don't tell my coauthor and he meets the editor or referee, he may make an innocent comment that may be misconstrued.

What say the MO community?