The operation of the Listserv/Usenet gateway at American University
changed slightly as of the new year. We changed it so that the gateway
isn't listed in the post's header.
 
Most spams have invalid "From:" addresses. The listserv, seeing the
invalid "From:" address, used the "Sender:" address (which pointed back to
the gateway). This made it appear the spam was coming from
[log in to unmask], and led to countless complaints to us about "your
user sending this message to our list." At the suggestion of Eric Thomas,
we removed the "Sender:" tag from the posts to stop this. It should also
stop the problem we had a couple of weeks ago where all posts coming
through the gateway were intercepted as "possible spams".
 
What does this mean to you? If you had your list set so that posts from
the gateway were reviewed by you in an attempt to stop spams, then the way
you did this will have to change slightly. Configure the list so that it
is an edited list, and then list the subscribers as editors. For example,
if your list is FOOBAR-L and your address is [log in to unmask] then you
would set the list to:
 
* Send=     Editor,Hold
* Editor=   [log in to unmask],(FOOBAR-L)
 
Putting a list's name in parenthesis means "all the subscribers of the
list", so the editor statement above means that all subscribers can post
but that posts from non-subscribers (eg, those coming through the gateway)
are passed to the first editor (you) for approval before they are
distributed.
 
Jim McIntosh ([log in to unmask])
American University
Washington, DC USA 20016-8019