Douglas Winship writes in part:

> <snip> There are those .....who pay attention but don't save,
> thinking they'll remember but don't when it comes time they
> need to do something, etc. <snip>

These are the folks I hope to reach via redundancy in the ways in which they
can find instructions about how to use LISTSERV, and for whom adding
additional information to the response to the QUERY command may be useful. I
think the long term success of mail lists, and LISTSERV software, will, in the
long run depend on ease of use, and redundancies are the key in my mind (I am
a psychologist, and base this notion in large part on research concerning
learning and memory).

>  I imagine a large part of the problem is the tendency of most people
>  to call a list a listserv.  Given this, it becomes very difficult to
>  get it across that they are two totally disparate things, and it leads
>  to confusion.  When was the last time you tried to explain to your
>  subscribers that a list is not a listserv?  Rather an excercise in
>  futility, like asking them not to quoute excessively/unnecessarily.

I  agree, and posted a note explaining the list/listserv difference not more
than 2 weeks ago, but I am sure there were those who did not read it, or read
it only cursorily. I have also chided my professional association for
perpetuating this confusion in their print and even Internet-based
publications (many of those responsible subscribe to my set of lists).

And as to excessive quoting, I finally made a number of my lists moderated,
and reject all posts with excessive quotes, sending them back with a canned
note explaining all the reasons why it is a poor practice. For the lists which
are not moderated I have taken to setting errant quoters to "REVIEW" status
and send them a canned note containing the errant post and explaining that
they will be returned to "NOREVIEW" status after having posted 3 notes which
quote appropriately. To minimize the "harruumph" reaction I explain in the
note that this is not meant as a punishment but as a way to insure that other
list members are not inconvienced. Wish this could all be automated, but I
don't think it's realistic to expect L-Soft to come up with a technical fix
for this problem, at least within this decade.

The idea of using the top banner to point to the instructions in the bottom
banner sounds like a good one, and I will implement this ASAP.

John Roraback