I shifted the WORLDWIDEWORDS list Auto-Delete from =Full-auto to
=No this weekend in order to find and deal with a number of
bounces that LISTSERV was unable to identify because they were
being forwarded from an intermediate address. That worked fine.

What puzzled and alarmed me was the number of errors that
arrived in my mailbox, some 300 messages at last count relating
to about 400 bounces. These were nearly all "User unknown" and
related fatal errors. However, the daily error monitoring report
never lists more than about 25 addresses. Does this suggest
there might be some problem with the way I've configured the
list?

The list is announce-only, with one message a week posted.  I've
set the list to actively probe subscribers, with the setting
being

  * Auto-Delete= Yes,Full-Auto,Delay(18),Max(2),Probe(27)

My understanding is that this should result in any bouncing
address being cleared down within a month. However, those
annoying forwarded bounces have been appearing for more than
three months. Again, does this suggest that I've set some
parameter wrongly?

I also have

  * Renewal= 3-monthly,Delay(7),Probe


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
<[log in to unmask]>
<http://www.worldwidewords.org/>