> >Why then are there dead subscribers on the list with counts of
> >14 errors?
>
> Are they in fact still subscribed at the address listed?  (i.e.
> does a manual delete of that exact address work?)

No, as my last message implied, the addresses are not of
subscribers, nor of variations on subscribers' addresses.
Clearly, subscribers are forwarding mail. In the past, I've
turned off auto-delete to identify addresses.

> No error detection mechanism is 100% perfect.  Some addresses
> will still slip by (the bounce may not be returned to
> LISTSERV, the proper information may not be present to
> correctly process the message, the address shown as bouncing
> may not be the subscribed address, etc).

Understood! My query was why the passive bouncing mechanism,
which - if I've understood it right - tags messages with a
unique return address, isn't picking these up?


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
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<http://www.worldwidewords.org/>