On Jul 5, 2006, at 5:16 PM, Ben Parker wrote:

> On Wed, 5 Jul 2006 10:38:57 -0500, "Muth, Jane" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Is there an easy way to edit or delete messages to a listserver.   
>> I've
>> read a section in the L-Soft manual regarding this, but I'm a bit
>> confused by the process and was wondering if there was an easy way  
>> to do
>> this.  It would be nice if L-Soft created an edit or delete button.
>
> Aside from academic and law enforcement (or other) institutional  
> applications
> where the "chain of evidence" (connected flow of previous list  
> messages)
> should never be allowed to be broken by editing, there are  
> circumstances in
> businesses and other kinds of institutions with closed (non-public)  
> lists with
> limited audiences, where editing of the archives may be necessary  
> or even
> desirable for reasons that are agreed to by that list/audience or  
> where such
> editing may occasionally be necessary for legal compliance reasons  
> (e.g.
> HIPPA, SOX, etc.).

Just after I responded to the original message appeared where this  
question was posed today, a colleague rushed into my office with a  
look of dread on his face. His face was red as a fire engine! He  
asked me if I could stop our LISTSERV from sending a message he sent  
to a list. I told him that the message in question would have already  
been distributed. He showed me the message in his list's archives. It  
was a very erotic message that he sent to various and sundry managers  
by mistake. Oops! I pointed this colleague to question 8 on the List  
Owners FAQ on how to get rid of that message and then I heard him  
apologizing to his manager, who took the incident in stride.