On Wed, 15 Sep 1999, Kathy Montgomery wrote:

> Has anyone here successfully implemented a system of list
> expiration/renewal at their site?  I don't mean *subscription*
> renewal.... for example, if a user requests a list on my server, I want
> to be able to track the age of the list and then know after, say, 6
> months, get rid of it.  I find this desirable because professors often
> request lists for their classes, which, of course, usually last only a
> semester.
>
> I have thought of using a database to track the lists I create, then
> generate reports to know which lists I can erase.  However, perhaps
> there an easier, "LISTSERV" way to do it.  If some such method is in the
> docs, please point me there. :)

I too have been thinking about implementing a list expiration system,
but I haven't had time to pursue this issue yet. What I was thinking
about doing is simply track the number of subscriptions on each list
here on a daily basis. I already have a Perl script that extracts this
information for a daily report that gets mailed out.

My idea is to send an automated e-mail message to the list owner(s)
of any list that goes for more than one month without any subscriptions
to ask if the list is needed and if its not needed then to let me know.
If it is needed, then to please at least put one subscription in it,
just as a flag to stop the warning script from flagging the list as
unnecessary. This would work for most of the lists here because they
mostly have the Renewal keyword enabled to do at least annual
subscription renewals.

Any other ideas would be appreciated.