Dear LSTOWN-L readers,
 
Following the recent posting on the muddled constitution of Eau Claire, Ton
van den Bogert posted the below notice to Biomch-L.  The incident (and similar
recent ones) brought back an old idea for which I wish to sollicit comments
from fellow LiSTOWNers:  what about creating a LISTSERV/LISTEARN feature in
which list subscribers are authorized to post without editorial intervention,
but where non-subscriber postings are diverted to an editor for her/his
consideration?
 
At present, setting a list to send=private means that subscribers can post but
that non-subscriber postings are simply rejected rather than being forwarded
to an editor, while setting a list to send=editor treats subscribers and non-
subscribers indiscriminately.  Of course, send=private has its own problems
when email addresses change, when Internet addresses for machines that are
also on BITNET are not registered on BITNET (if you want to know more about
this, send a SHOW ALIAS your_site_name to [log in to unmask] or to any
other LISTEARN server), or when users can login on the same account at
different machines each of which generates its own From: field).
 
Instead of sending external postings to an editor, another solution might be
that external postings are rejected with a notice on who the (active) list-
owners are, with their email addresses.  Of course, this information is
available under the present set-up where an external poster afting finding
that his/her posting is rejected may issue a REVIEW list_name (SHORT command,
but many posters don't know these facilities under LISTEARN/SERV.
 
Thanks for your comments -- Herman J. Woltring (Biomch-L).
 
 ---------------------------------
 
Date:    Fri, 2 Oct 92 22:12:51 MDT
From:    [log in to unmask]
Subject: Inappropriate postings
Sender:  Biomechanics and Movement Science listserver <BIOMCH-L@HEARN>
 
Dear subscribers,
 
On behalf of the Biomch-L co-moderators, I apologize for the
entirely inappropriate posting today by Robert E. McElwaine
("biological transmutations").  He has been doing this to many
other Bitnet lists and Internet newsgroups recently, and his
own university cannot stop him, because of the 'freedom of
speech' in the USA constitution.
 
The Bitnet/LISTSERV system does allow control over who can post,
but we have not implemented that option (yet).  It would mean
that many Biomch-L postings would have to pass through the
moderators first.  We would lose reaction speed, and the list
would require constant attention.  Hopefully, the number of such
incidents will remain small.
 
If you are sufficiently angry about this form of E-junk-mail, try
sending the poster a nasty message.  That may help if enough
people do that.  Do not post to Biomch-L, because that merely
increases the volume of irrelevant mail.  You *are* allowed to
complain to the moderators, of course.  That's what we are for.
 
This message is intended to explain our present policy; we will
not reply on Biomch-L to every incident in the future, but be
assured that we will take the appropriate action privately.
 
-- Ton van den Bogert, Biomch-L co-moderator
   University of Calgary