Recently I read that American Online had begun to offer increased
Internet connectivity to its customers and evidence for that
is showing up pretty heavily on my list (Market-L).  For the
past two weeks we have had 2 to 3 subscribe or unsubscribe
requests per day from aol.com going to the list address.
As an aside, aol.com is now the most heavily subscribed site
on Market-L by far.
 
There is a short term and long term thread here.  For the
short term, (1) is anybody else experiencing this, and (2)
does anybody know what AOL's listserv help or documentation
file looks like?  I just have the feeling it does not explain
the difference between the list and the server very well.
If I can verify that I would like to send a nice polite
note requesting better help files to the management signed
by me and other owners (reply directly to me if you just
want to include your name and list).
 
The long term thread is this, but I don't know whether I have
a question here or whether I just want someone to sympathise.
Market-L has only 700 or so subscribers but there seems to be
a terrific amount of noise.  As one subscriber put it to me,
the list is "out of control."  I don't expect things to
remain all buttoned down and academic but it is starting
to resemble alt.tonya-harding.whack.whack.whack or
something.  I see people posting their resumes, there are
numerous unsubscribe commands (despite bi-weekly FAQ
postings), person-to-person communications using the
list....    It looks to me like moderating it, with all
the extra labor and arbitrary control that that step
implies, is inevitable.  Has anybody started out with
an unmoderated list and felt forced to begin moderating?
Or should I just let the bits fall where they may?
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Charlie Hofacker                     [log in to unmask]