What is the scope of a district court order dismissing a motion to dismiss as to all defendants?

At the outset, we are confronted with a question concerning the scope of the district court's order. Although the motion to dismiss was made only on behalf of the sixteen defendants who had been served and appeared, the district court's order dismissed the complaint "as to all defendants." Despite the apparent broad scope of the quoted words, we believe the district court intended the word "defendants" to include only those who were served, had appeared and moved to dismiss. See cases collected in 11A Words and Phrases at 340. We are bolstered in this belief by our confidence that the able district judge knew our general policy of disapproving sua sponte dismissals of pro se prisoner petitions before service and appearance. See, e.g., Massop v. Coughlin, 770 F.2d 299, 301 (2d Cir.1985) (per curiam). We limit our discussion therefore to the claims against the sixteen moving defendants.