Maureen:

 You are dealing with the dregs of Internet: AOL and Usenet. I'm surprised AOL did anything at all.  I suggest setting your list to listowner approved subscriptions and getting rid of the Usenet gateway.  This will give you more control.  I stopped all new AOL subscriptions on my list, because of AOL's refusal to discipline its members and because I'm tired of dealing with bouncing AOL mail.  You might also want to do that.  Life is too short.

If the Usenet gateway is the source of a lot of your list's problems, your other subscribers may applaud a decision to remove the gateway.  Once in awhile a new member on my list suggests getting a gateway and there is a resounding "no" from other list members.  It's hard enough keeping flames down on a regular list, but Usenet just invites more problems.

If your list is high volume, as mine is, I tell people to get the digest version and just skim through it to read what they want.

Be sure you have a netiquette guide for your list in the Welcome or FAQ or that is regularly posted - this should detail what people can get kicked off your list for - ie threatening the listowner.

Cynthia [log in to unmask]