Hi Lou,

At 12:05 PM 6/30/99 -0700, you wrote:
>After several years of running other lists, I've recently inherited a list
>with a long, long history.  I'm trying to fix it up after an extended
>absence/illness by the previous listowner.

I think I know that list.  :)  I wish I still had time to read Usenet....
Anyhow, the following are my best wild guesses why it was set this way.

>Why would the list be Send= Public?  (for Usenet purposes?)

I'd say Usenet was almost certainly the reason.

>Why set everyone to editor as a default?

At one time it was probably Editor= [log in to unmask],(Listname)
which (with Send= Editor) would have let subscribers post while
sending posts from non-subscribers (who wandered in via Usenet)
to the editor.  But it was probably changed when the feature came
along that allowed the owner to set a limit on the number of posts
-per person- per day.  I vaguely recall some discussion at that time,
about that not working if they were Editors - but maybe it works if
they have the "editor" option as opposed to being on the Editor line.
(??Anybody else remember that discussion??)  Given that the list is
now "Send= Public" I suspect the previous owner gave up on what he
was trying to do with the Editor stuff, but maybe left it there
so he could try again someday....

>There seems to be no way to moderate the list, is there?

Well, not with it like that!  :)  If you change to Send= Editor
and take the editor option away from those who shouldn't have it,
(I'm not sure what the SET command for that is, but I'm sure the
first word should probably be "QUIET"...  :) ) maybe you could
get the list to be moderated, but even then the Usenet group will
be unmoderated (unless it is a moderated newsgroup).  If you only
want to moderate non-subscribers then you might be almost there
now, if you leave the subscribers with the editor option and set
Send= Editor.

>How does the usenet gateway post to the list?  If someone were to reply to
>a Usenet post, does it just go to the list as a regular subscriber?  (The
>gateway is set as editor, with no other special settings.)

I think gateway postings show up as being from the person rather than from
the gateway.  Which means if you have a setup where only subscribers can
post directly, a subscriber could post directly even when posting from
Usenet.

>Aren't Files and Stats obsolete?

I think so, unless the list is on a VM system (I think it once was).  But
I don't think they will do any harm.  :)

Margaret King ([log in to unmask])
Michigan State University