>I wonder if we could benefit from some hints/suggestions on how to make list
>management easier from the various experts out there?  I too found getting
>hundreds of error messages a day frustrating (the worst was leaving town for
>a week and returning to find over 2000 messages in my box) until I developed
>a strategy that works for me.  I suspect other listowners have developed
>other ways of dealing with them and I'd like to here them.
 
>With a single account, the same effect could probably be created by using
>filters to direct mail into different boxes (the commercial version of
>Eudora can do this, for instance).
 
 
I can't set myself up with several accounts, so I use Eudora as you
suggest.  I think that without the filtering I would spend way too much
time sorting everything out.  With filtering, I can set myself up with
several mailboxes for each type of mail I receive as listowner, as well as
mailboxes for each list I am a member of.  My mailboxes include:
 
Lstsrv-L
Lstown-L
        Etc.
christia
christia sub/unsub notices
christia error reports
christia approval required
christia listserv command output
 
By putting all listserv traffic to separate mailboxes, I keep my IN box
relatively uncluttered, and it has improved my responsiveness to personal
mail (since it doesn't get lost in the clutter).
 
By having separate mailboxes for each type of job/responsibility, I can
take care of priority stuff quickly, and deal with non-priority stuff
later.  For example, I try to approve messages ASAP, but I put off errors
till I have a little more free time, and I check out sub notices maybe once
a week.
 
Since my mail is downloaded to my home computer, I don't have to worry
about filling up my email account (as long as I check my mail regularely.
Since I have that automated, as long as my computer is on, the mail gets
checked.) As busy as christia is, I received 500 messages in one day from
normal list traffic plus 5 or 6 people all getting full mailboxes on the
same day. (The first time that happened, I was listowner for all of one
week.  I freaked out. :-)  )
 
So that I can have a feel of relative subs vs unsubs, before these notices
are filtered to the mailbox, subs are hi-lighted blue, and unsubs red.
Since there is a fairly high turnover, it is nice to be able to ignore this
mailbox until I want to look them over.
 
 
I highly recommend a mail program that can sort into folders/mailboxes for
those who are able to use one.
 
Mark
 
- --
Mark Drake   [log in to unmask]
"A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he
 take it ill to be railed at by a man in a fever.  Just so should a wise man
 treat all mankind, as a physician treats a patient, and look upon them as
 sick." -- Seneca