Patrick and UCS Postmaster: I would disagree with Patrick's
assessment of the LISTSERV auto-delete feature. On the whole it has
saved me a lot of time. This particular problem could have been avoided
1) if UCS did not cause the error to begin with
and 2) if UCS immediately notified everyone about the problem when it
is was identified (by means of a logon greeting or something similar).
I would add that I notified the IUB UCS postmaster about the error within
a couple of hours of the event. Notification was not broadcast so
Patrick had to discover the problem hours or days after the fact.
It is appropriate for LISTSERV to delete user addresses when it receives
error messages from a mailer indicating that the user is unknown.
It is not appropriate for a mailer to send "user unknown" messages when
that is not the case.  Shouldn't the agency causing the problem be
responsible for fixing it, especially after it knows about it?
It should not be up to the list owner to deal with this problem.
I think we are just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg on this
one.
*GO*   Most sincerely,
*!!*   A. Ralph Papakhian, Music Library (Co-Listowner for MLA-L@IUBVM)
*IU*   Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
       (812) 855-2970  [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
 
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Date:    Fri, 9 Dec 1994 16:12:05 -0500
From:    Patrick <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Auto-delete Blues
 
  You know, at first I thought this new "auto-delete" feature was going to
be a big help.  After months of dealing with the fallout from it, though, I
have to say that it's simply more trouble than it's worth.  I spend as much or
more time helping people re-subscribe, and explaining why their listserv mail
suddenly stopped, than I would have if I'd just had a few more transient error
messages to deal with.
 
  A typical "auto-delete" headache:  Twice now, a transient hiccup at the
University of Delaware has caused listserv to auto-delete over a dozen
subscribers at once from both of the listservs I manage.  The problem there
is cleared up the next day, but then I have to either let everyone know or
quietly add everyone back on.
 
  But today was the last straw--when I discovered that listserv had two days
ago auto-deleted ME from my own lists!  What's more, it didn't let me, as
listowner, know that I'd been deleted as a subscriber.  Heck, I just thought
the list was going through a quiet period during finals week ;)
 
  Opinions will differ, I'm sure, but from here it looks like "auto-delete"
is one of those "improvements" that must have looked good on paper but turns
out to be a pain in the neck in practice.
 
Patrick Leary
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End of LSTOWN-L Digest - 8 Dec 1994 to 9 Dec 1994
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