(the list)
 
I putatively manage several listserv and majordomo lists.  Sometimes
folks need help to get off the list because they've moved or their
machine has changed its name.  I can handle that, but sometimes,
they continue to get messages because someone is forwarding them
from some other name entirely.
 
Does anyone know of a procedure to test the membership of a mailing
list to see which addresses are "leaf" and which are indirect by
virtue of some other forwarding?  If not, I shall devise one to use
the VRFY request on each member of the list and summarize the results.
 
Can I run the telnet session from PERL?  Is there a better way to do
this?  I once sent out an identified unique message to each member of
one list in order to track down a persistent bounce to its source
address.  I think this would do it without bothering any people,
which I consider an advantage.
 
Suggestions welcome.
 
Dick Karpinski ([log in to unmask])