A curious problem has occurred with sprint.ca. Messages from our LISTSERV to established subscribers get through with no difficulty. However, service messages to new subscribers are bounced, with an error message advising "553 Authentication is required to send mail as <"L-Soft list server at The LINGUIST List. (1.8d)">" Support at sprint.ca say that a 'glitch' on their mail servers stops any mail that contains a parenthesis in the 'From:' ID string. Two questions: a) Is this a known problem anywhere else? (Is this, in fact, likely to be the cause of the problem?) b) Is there a cure, apart from getting Sprint to do something about their mail server or altering the ID string (the latter hardly seems necessary)? -- Michael Quinion Editor, World Wide Words E-mail: <[log in to unmask]> Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>