I added the RENEWAL keyword to WORDS-L last week and so far have not
had any problems.  (I *think* that yesterday was when the people who
subscribed more than a year ago were to get messages from the listserv.)
I sent the 'norenew' command for the usenet gateway and all local
redistribution addresses.  Then I took a copy of the list of subscribers,
edited it to add 'confirm words-l for' before the addresses of all the
subscribers who didn't have 'nomail' set, and sent it to the listserv.
Yes, that took a while to do.  But I did it more out of selfishness than
out of kindness to the subscribers.  I foresaw problems with people
sending the 'confirm' command from their wrong addresses.  So the only
subscribers who should have gotten requests for renewal were those with
'nomail' set.  I wanted them to have to renew because I have the strong
feeling that some of them have had 'nomail' set for a year or so and
have forgotten they're on the list.  Seeing all those names of deadwood
subscribers somehow offended my sense of orderliness.
   --Natalie ([log in to unmask])