Eric, thanks for the history lesson:
 
>May I  kindly remind  everyone that  "Filter=" was not  designed to  be a
>mechanism to filter  naughty people from a mailing  list, although people
>do use  it for  this and  it does  work in  that capacity.  "Filter=" was
>originally  introduced as  a  loop prevention  mechanism,  to extend  the
>built-in list of  broken gateway addresses, which  hopefully you wouldn't
>consider sensitive information.
.
.
.
>So  your  question really  is:  "Why  wasn't  a brand  new  customization
>mechanism developed specifically for the Filter= facility?" Well, off the
>top of my hat:
>
>- It would take a serious amount of work.
>
>- It would add yet another file for each list, just for "Filter=".
>
>- It would have to be documented carefully with many examples.
>
>- People would have to get used to it.
>
>- It would make LISTSERV more complicated, just for "Filter=".
 
Makes sense.
 
Ummm ...but could you perhaps address the broader question of the
possibility of restricting public review of even the list header?
Confidential=yes is just a workaround with another tradeoff.
 
I brought the same question up a few months ago because my list owners were
looking for a way to keep the editor's address concealed.  It is becoming
apparent now that other list owners also have their own various reasons for
disallowing public review of the header.
 
Ben said, and I agree:
 
>I still think it would be better for LISTSERV(tm) to return the INFO text
>(if defined in the listname.mailtpl) instead of the header when Review=Owner.
 
And if no INFO file is defined, notify the user how to contact
[log in to unmask]
 
Thus we don't have to worry about which header settings are public and which
are hidden.  Thus when a new owner sets review=owner it does as he/she might
reasonably expect it to do --not give any part of the list including the
header to anyone but the owner.  Thus when an owner wants to prevent access
to certain header information, he/she has a relatively straightforward way
to do it without sacrificing list visibility in the LIST-OF-LISTS.
 
 
George Buckner
Owner, Psyche-*