> If you very carefully and don't find a message in the
> DEFAULT.MAILTPL then it is hard-coded internally in LISTSERV
> and not changable.

This raises the more general question of why it should be.

I keep logs of everybody who tries to join World Wide Words
through our Web page form. Periodically I write to everybody who
has not succeeding in joining the list to ask whether they have
had a problem. I started doing so because the page and its CGI
script were new and I wanted to be sure it was working right,
but I do so now because many potential subscribers have trouble
confirming their subscriptions.

The confirmation message may seem not to be excessively wordy or
difficult, but the evidence suggests some people have trouble
understanding it, not only those whose first language is not
English; others are clearly confused by the process.

I itch to get at the text and edit it into a pithier form (for
example, with the essential information on what to do placed
first and a brief explanation of the reasons for the process
moved to the end, or even omitted altogether).

The rationale behind making this (and some other messages) hard-
wired is not immediately obvious. Could I ask the developers to
consider changing such messages to an editable form for future
releases?


--
Michael Quinion
World Wide Words
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<http://www.quinion.com/words/>