Anthea Tillyer <[log in to unmask]> wrote about her over-busy, off-topic list: > I personally > wouldn't mind because I am ready to throw in the towel anyway, but I > think that it would hurt many members who have legitimate academic > interest in the stated purpose of the list and who are pained by its > current gutter level. I personally like the approach taken on HUMOR@UGA, to which I'm a subscriber. (Get the HUMOR WELCOME file and the list header for an explanation.) Basically no one may *post* to HUMOR unless they've been registered to post (by the owner putting them into a separate list (HUMOR-G[?], my memory tells me), and then the headers are set to "Editor=(HUMOR-G)", or something like that. You might want to talk with Bill Edwards ([log in to unmask]) about his experience with the list. My own lists (co-owned) are much smaller and quieter than yours, but I still understand your frustration and have shared it. List owning is sometimes a thankless job often. In my case the lists (Quaker-L and Quaker-P) can be so rewarding, though, that I have stuck it out, and the "meta-postings" come and go in cycles, so it's not always so hard. Where we are today is a lot nicer than a month ago! I don't know if this is because of or despite a 10-day span of moderating that we instituted. We don't want to return to that. En paz, Steve -- Stephen W. Thompson, U. of PA, Data Administration, 215-898-1236 E-mail (MIME): [log in to unmask] -OR- [log in to unmask] URL: http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~st/st.html