On Apr 25,  9:47am, Michael B Quinion wrote:
} Subject: Handling of bounce messages
} For reasons unconnected with this question, I've just changed
} the WORLDWIDEWORDS list experimentally from Full Auto to Manual.
} LISTSERV reported just before the change that the list - which
} is used to mail out a newsletter once a week - has about 8,300
} subscribers, and that 16 subscribers were being monitored. After
} Saturday's mailing, I received about 500 error reports via the
} LISTSERV, with 417 of them "user unknown".
}
} Could somebody explain the very large difference between these
} two figures? Does the LISTSERV not act on the error reports it
} receives? Presumably these dead subscribers would be eliminated
} as a result of our three-monthly passive probe, but if the
} LISTSERV is not acting on the weekly bounces, will it not also
} fail to see those in response to the probes? To end up with more
} than 400 dead subscribers on a list of 8000 within a three-month
} period seems high.

Michael,
If you are only sending out weekly mailings, then the bounces go on the
"monitored" list, and fall off 5 days later, just before the next bounce
puts them back.
Try setting your Auto-Delete line to something like:

    * Auto-Delete= Yes,Semi-Auto,Delay(40),Max(5)

which will stretch it out a bit and reduce the number of failures needed
to auto-delete.  This will keep them on the list for 40 days (5
mailings) and autodelete them for 5 errors within that 40 days.

--
Rich Greenberg   Work:  Rich.Greenberg atsign worldspan.com   +1 770-563-6656
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