I like to present a recent incident and I would like to get your opinion on
the code of ethics and relationship between server managers and listowners.

I own a number of lists and manage some of them with other listowners. I am
also the person-in-charge of mailing list services, i.e. I help and teach
the academic community to run their activities using mailing lists and
eventually let to manage their lists by themselves.

This late afternoon my ownership of some of the lists that I manage solely
were transfered by the administrator (who is a pain in the ass to most of
the academic staff) to someone else (a friend). In the early afternoon I
happened to call the administrator on another matter and he informed me
that most of my lists  will be transferred to a new person. I told him that
I have not been informed by the director and he should not do it without my
consent. I then wrote a memo on this to the director. Even then, this guy
made the transfer of listownship.

Q: what are the various issues involved here ?

Q: what are the code of ethics that an administrator could have follow  ?

Q: How is it technically done - that an administrator can enter into a
mailing list and change the listowners name without the list password and
without the listowner's consent ? What are the legal issues inolved ?

Q: scenario: if he claims that he has been given the order by the director
to make the change (the director is on mission now), should he consult with
me first or does the administrator have the full rights to act without
informing me ?

Q: there are some 500 subscribers to this list, many are listowners like
yourself. How would you react if this had happened to you.

I look forward to your comments.

Jacky