On Wed, 15 Apr 1992 18:36:52 PDT Russell N. Hathhorn, VM Systems Support said:
 ...
>Consequently I shunt via Errors-to= to a separate userid that 'handles the
>problem'(make that purges) this junk.  ...
 
 If you simply discard error notices as they arrive, then problems that
 crop up may never get resolved.  For example, if an account is removed
 from a system and the address is still on your mailing list, every time
 mail if sent to your list, you're guaranteed to get one bounce.  So if
 nobody ever bothers to look through the error mail, you could end up
 with a large number of bounces per piece of mail posted.  After a few
 years on a large/busy list I can well imagine that you'd receive
 hundreds of bounces.  I have to agree that some lists tend to be
 better behaved than others.  My "recreational" list is by far my worst
 offender in terms of delivery errors too.  But even so, I still read
 all the garbage and try to do *something* with every bounce message I
 receive.  Maybe it just me, but I can't let the network waste resources
 bouncing mail back and forth hoping that the problem is temporary and
 will resolve itself.  That's my primary objection to just letting things
 slide when a delivery error is received.  I try to contact the appropriate
 person(s) and get the problem resolved, and in most cases "NOMAIL" the
 address while the error is being investigated.
 
>+---------------------------------------------+------------------------------+
>|   Russell N. Hathhorn                       |  Bitnet: SYSMAINT@PCCVM      |
 
 -jj