Dear Sue,
 
I manage several lists half a continent away and while response time
is usually fairly brief (a few seconds to several minutes) messages
(including listserv commands) occasionally take hours and even (gulp!)
days.  It all depends on a combination of factors.  The system that
houses your list may be overloaded or shut down for maintenance;
Sprint, MCI, Multinet and other assorted routes may be clogged;
a major node along the "backbone" may be out of commission. Keep in
mind that Internet is an absolutely incredible bargain for people
in the U.S. (it's much more expensive in other parts of the world).
For a small fee a month we have the *privilege* to use multi-million
dollar equipment to communicate.  If we stop thinking of the
relative ease and speed of communication as a right but begin to
think of it as a gift we may be less likely to become resentful
when things don't behave the way we think they should.  The more
people use the net and get involved with listserv lists, the
more breakdowns and bottle necks are going to occur.
 
Only very rarely will anyone inform you that a problem is
about to occur because those difficulties can frequently not
be anticipated.
 
You might try to run TRACEROUTE to see if your message arrives
at the intended destination.  Also be sure to download the
Listowners' manual (I can't remember where I got mine, but I
sure someone else can give you the address), and study it
carefully. It is well written and should answer most questions
that come up.
 
Good luck!
 
Ingrid Shafer ([log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask])
Co-owner [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
http://astro.temple.edu/~arcc