> You're right (I'm not much of a VAX person).  Apparently the command that
> is being used is the REPLY/EXTRACT subcommand of the VMS "MAIL" command.
> According to my co-workers that support our VAX's, there is no option to
> keep the headers from being included.  You can only edit them out manually.
 
  Well, there are two issues here. I'll start with the PMDF one. You _can_
get PMDF to omit headers. The easiest way is to modify the channel block by
specifying the "headeromit" keyword. This affects all mail delivered on the
channel, so it may be (probably _will_ be) undesirable. You could also set
up a DELIVER file for the user which would cause that particular user's mail
to have headers stripped, either just for LISTSERV messages or for all mess-
ages. This is the most flexible automated solution, although it does require
some DCL to make it work.
 
  However, I really question why your user can't remove the header lines. It
is no more complicated to delete header lines than it is to delete message
text, and it would seem unacceptable to reply to a list with all the original
text in its unquoted form. So, the best solution is either to get the user
to REPLY/NOEXTRACT or teach him/her how to remove the header lines.
 
  The underlying problem is that VMS MAIL does not support message header lines
beyond from, to, cc, and subject, so they have to be part of the message text
if they are desired. I agree with Eric that removing LISTSERV's loop-detection
code is a bad idea. While it may help your one user in the short term, a mass-
ive loop caused by the disabling of the code has the ability to affect large
numbers of users.
 
        Terry Kennedy           Operations Manager, Academic Computing
        [log in to unmask]     St. Peter's College, US
        [log in to unmask]    (201) 915-9381