How long list archives are kept are more of a concern for the LISTSERV
maintainer and the host site than it is for the list owner.   It is
a matter of filling of the disk space that the archives are kept on,
and how much disk space the host site is willing to allocate for the
archives.
 
If the LISTSERV maintainer is arbitrarily deleting archives, I question
the value of that site in keeping archives.
 
For myself, I have increased the disk space for the archives to the point
that I can now keep slightly more than years worth on disk.   I have about
2 years worth of archives on tape.
 
For the individual lists (as opposed to the national lists that we peer),
I notifiy the list owners affected before removing some archives to bring
the disk space usage of the archive disk down.
 
Duane
 
**************
 
Duane D. Weaver
LISTSERV Postmaster
Senior Systems Programmer
VM Support Group
Ohio State University