On Fri, 22 Oct 1993 10:16:07 +0100 Jean P. Wilmotte said: >As to sending commands to a LISTSERV, I've read several times some >instructions telling to leave the Subject: field blank. >I wonder why. >1. If the LISTSERV software doesn't want to get anything from this line, it >should not read it. > It doesn't. >2. A non blank Subject: line is useful to me. I never throw away my copy of >a message I sent out until I get a complete feedback to it. Non blank >Subject: lines help me to see at a glance in my "out" folder which subjects >are still pending. > Put anything you want on the Subject line. LISTSERV doesn't care. >3. Last but not least, I seldom left the Subject: line blank when sending >commands to LISTSERV's, but *never* had any problem caused by the non blank >Subject: line. > So you've experimentally found out the answers to your own questions. Not as good, I agree, as seeing them stated authoritatively. I suspect that people say "Leave the subject line blank" because SOME servers/daemons expect (or tolerate) commands in the Subject: line, and the intent is to be very explicit that LISTSERV will ignore any command you might put there. /b