On Thu, 14 Aug 1997 11:30:10 -0500, Bill Harrison <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Is there any command where you can see how many subscribers are set to
>mail AND digest without getting a full list of their names and
>options. What I want is the number that messages are being distributed
>to like the ACK message shows.
>
>Something similar to
>
>        rev listname by mail AND digest short
>
Since it is not possible for a single address receive both MAIL and DIGEST
form of msgs you can't.   I assume you mean

QUERY listname WITH MAIL FOR *@*
QUERY listname WITH DIGEST FOR *@*

And you hope this sum of the 2 numbers will add up to what ACK shows.  It
won't.  Lots of people try to figure out what that number means.  It is NOT
a total subscriber number.  [rev listname (noheader short will do that]

Because LISTSERV uses a special distribution algorithm (LISTSERV rarely
sends out 1msg for 1 recipent, usually 1 copy of msg is forwarded to
another backbone server 'closer' to the recipent for multiple distribution
from there), the ACK number is basically meaningless.  It may well be
different tomorrow, and certainly will be next week, even if your list
stays exactly the same.

Give up on using this number for anything meaningful.

 _______________________________________________________________________
 Ben Parker ............ (Oak Park IL) ......... [log in to unmask]