On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 16:09:10 +1200, Wendy Howard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Our list is topics-based, and our understanding of how the topic is invoked in the subject line has been that the topic must be immediately followed by a colon to be effective.
>
>A recent run of posts has shown us this is not the case, and a space between the topic and the colon doesn't negate it.

I don't know wnywhwere in the manual that this is discussed in detail.  This
is just one of those "little" things that you have to experiment with to find
out.  The rules I have worked out by experiment are 

1. The topic(s) must appear first on the Subject: line, before any regular
descriptive words.

2. The topic(s) must be followed by a colon ":" character to be recognized by
LISTSERV.

3. Although topics are usually shown with the colon right after the Topic(s),
with no space, in fact any amount of space between the topic(s) and the ":" is
allowed.

4. case (upper, lower, mixed) does not matter for topic(s)

5. Topics may be abbreviated to the shortest unique combination, in many cases
this can be 1 letter.

6. Multiple topics must be comma separated before the ":" 


  some valid examples:  (This list has BIRD,DOG,FROG,OTHER,ALL as topics)

  Subject: Bird: This message is about birds
  Subject: Bird : This message is about birds
  Subject: Bird             : This message is about birds
  Subject: Bird,Dog,Frog: This message is about 3 animals
  Subject: Bird, Dog, Frog : This message is about 3 animals
  Subject: Bi, Dog, F : This message is about 3 animals
  Subject: B, D, F : This message is about 3 animals

  some invalid examples: 

  Subject: Bird This message is about birds 
  (no ":", will go to ALL and OTHER topics, but not to Bird topic)

  Subject: Cat: This message is about cats
  (valid syntax, but CAT is not a topic, will go to ALL and OTHER)