>deal with it all at once and know more
>about eaching incoming message.

[I may have misunderstood what the above
writer was trying to convey. My comments
below are based on what I did surmise.]

I disagree. I don't see it as my job, as
listowner, to determine how list members
process e-mail. Everyone has different
intellectual/reading styles, and I see no
reason to make all sizes fit one style.

I offer the following instruction in a rotating
bottom banner for placing the listname at the
beginning of all Subject: lines:

Force Subject: [THYROID] - mailto:[log in to unmask]

Any member can cause all list messages
to have the [LISTNAME] at the beginning of
all Subject: lines by sending the command

set LISTNAME SUBJ

to the appropriate LISTSERV server.

If, perchance, the LISTOWNER was inclined
to *force* all current list members to have the
name of the list at the beginning of all Subject:
lines (something I do not suggest, for reasons
mentioned above), then the listowner can
issue this command:

set LISTNAME SUBJ for *@*

If the LISTOWNER was also inclined to force
all future list members to have the name of the
list at the beginning of all Subject: lines
(something I do not suggest, for reasons
mentioned above), then the listowner can add
SUBJ to the default settings for new members.

Savvy LISTSERV members, when confronted
with lists so configured, can turn the SUBJ off
and go back to life without the Subject:
beginning with the LISTNAME on all messages.
My guess would be that the command would be
something like this:

set LISTNAME NOSUBJ

>narrowing of the bandwidth for information
>about incoming email

If the LISTNAME has been chosen carefully,
it will contain the smallest appropriate number
of characters. My list names are 7 or 8 characters.
Adding [] and a space, we have, say, 10 to 12
characters, right?

Those 10 to 12 characters are in prime real estate,
at the beginning of the Subject: line. However,
many e-mail programs can now display several
dozen characters on the Subject: line. Because
I prefer leave this matter up to members' own
preferences, I see no significant loss.

>more efficient to create a filter

Could you please share with this group your
typical instructions for how to create a filter?

While I personally do use that kind of filtering,
I do not presume to insist that all list members
process incoming information in the same way
that I do.

Many of my list members are too ill, or too
computer illiterate, or too contra-authoritarian
to be forced into building filters rather than
using the simple SUBJ tool that is built into our
fine LISTSERV.

If set LISTNAME NOSUBJ helps them, and if
it is their first step to begin to process their
e-mail in a "modern" fashion, I say, more power
to them.