On Fri, 13 Jul 2001 16:32:25 -0400, Ruth Levine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>On our List Archives pages the "message numbers" are not sequential
>and I cannot make any sense of them.

They aren't supposed to be sequential.  LISTSERV offers 3 different methods of
Indexing: By Subject: line (as close to 'threading' as we can get), By Author,
or By Posting Date (which can further be in oldest to newest order or newest to
oldest order).  In each case the message number order will be different.

Message numbers are assigned in physical file order, which is the order in which
LISTSERV receives and processes messages.  This is usually not the same as any
of the above (since messages may originate in different time zones and have
different date/time stamps on them) although the 'By Posting Date (oldest to
newest)' comes closest.