>   Ok, lets all understand what an "archive" is.  It is a repository,
>   providing access to the material stored to qualified researchers.  To be
>   of value to the researcher all the material must be preserved, to the best
>   of your ability and resources available.  The list archives form a
>   historical database, a library, a peek into the past.  If you modify
>   the records you have destroyed the value of the archive as a research
>   tool.  One modifies only at direst need, then feels very guilty about it.
>   Don't laugh.  More than once I have been asked for help in searching our
>   archives by people doing studies on Net behavior and patterns. If you
>   edit the archives at will you have no archives, you have a lot of random
>   unrelated items: garbage.
>
This probably begins to come closest to the REAL issue.

Why does this archive exist in the first place?

Arguably, THE MOST IMPORTANT Archive in the world is that which documents
the daily activities of the United States Congress - The Congressional
Record. It clearly falls under all of the description above about WHY.

However, the Congressional Record is fiction. It is NOT a record of the
happenings in Congress, but rather a publication of what the members of
Congress wish to be in the Official Record of Congress. The contents of the
Congressional Record may be modified by any member at any time for any
reason. They may add or delete materials, or change 100% of what they said.
(They cannot change others words.)

So that brings up the REAL reason for denying people the right to change
LISTSERV  archives  which was already mentioned in another message ....

Once you do it for one person, you will get stuck doing it for others.

All of the other answers are "nice" but definitely not legal. (Unless you
have lots of bucks to fight for them in court.) In fact, if you ask your
"corporate attorney" for an opinion, they will undoubtedly scream - "you
keep a permanent record of what!" and immediately tell you to get rid of
them if you want to avoid a being sued... the very existence of an archive is
"suit-bait."

So toss a coin - depending upon your political point of view, you either
keep archives or you don't; edit them or don't; allow others to edit them
or not; allow them to be searched by... only list members, only professors
who want to write papers on what their students said in class, or anybody
that can figure out how to do it. (And don't forget the right of SPAMers to
go data mining in your archives for e-mail addresses.)

There is no answer -- save a unique one for every different person
involved.

And one last point - if you are an employee and your boss tells you to edit
an archive, you have no choice but to do it, or loose your job. The Supreme
Court has upheld the right of employers to do whatever they want with the
material on their computer systems - that it came from an outside source
is not material.

T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill                          Senior Systems Administrator
Information Services and Computing (ISC)   University of Pennsylvania
Internet: [log in to unmask]             [log in to unmask]
          [log in to unmask]                 http://pobox.upenn.edu/~magill/