Nathan Brindle writes:
>
>I would suggest to both of you to take a look at the List Owner's Manual
>which is available from our ftp site, ftp.lsoft.com, in the DOCUMENT
>directory.  Alternately you can view the latest version on the Web at
>http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/owner/listserv.html.
 
Nathan, I would strongly urge *you* to take a look at your manuals.
Nowhere are the step-by-step mechanics of moderated lists covered.
There's plenty of stuff in there about philosophies and how to set up
the basics of the list, but nothing about how to actually edit and
redistribute the messages or what to expect when you do edit messages.
 
 
>In terms of changing subject lines and body content, you as editor make
>those changes, then forward the message back to the list.  It's that
>simple.  You should use a mail client that generates "Resent-" header
>lines, else the edited posts will appear to be coming from you, but
>other than that, that's how it's done.
 
No, it is not that simple.  If you "forward" the message back to the
list, then it appears that all messages posted to the list come from
you, and you get those nasty embedded headers.  This is completely
unacceptable, and something even Majordomo is smart enough to handle
correctly.  If this is "as designed" in Listserv, then you need to
rethink your design.  You can bounce mail, and that retains the header
info and just adds the "Resent-by" line and approval line.  But
bouncing is a simple OK/not OK process, and most moderated lists need
more than that.  Right now the only way I can see to moderate a list in
this fashion is to save off all the submissions to the list to a file,
edit that file manually to fix headers and content, then reload that
file back into a mailer and one-by-one bounce the messages back to the
list.  If this convoluted and time-consuming process is the only way to
actually moderate a list (as opposed to simply being a gatekeeper,
which is not the same as moderating) then Listserv needs to make that
clear in their documentation as it is far from clear now.
 
Finally, Nathan, I would direct you to section 6.2 of the listowner
manual where it discusses the acceptability of RTFM-type posts
(especially when it has already been made clear that the FM has already
been read).
 
Dave