Re mangled AOL digests:

>*All* garbled messages arrive with *Gardens* header information, so Gardens
>gets blamed for the problems.
>
>I'm afraid this is one problem I'll get to blame on AOL, but that solution
>is too easy and I'm looking for other options.

Garbled digests are a constant problem with AOL subscribers on my lists.
It is most definitely an AOL problem -- here's some evidence:

- Downloads sometimes work and sometimes don't -- they can download the
  same digest twice and get garbage one time and a good digest the other.

- The content of the garbled digests is totally unrelated to the lists.
  It consists of pieces of email/downloads apparently meant for other
  AOL subscribers.  It's most often unreadable.  (Though once it was
  a viewable pornographic image and as this was a new subscriber it
  certainly gave my list an "interesting" reputation with them.  Luckily
  a re-download corrected the problem and my reputation was redeemed.)

- Interestingly, this tends to happen with some sense of a pattern.
  For example, an AOL subscriber might be happily receiving digests
  for months, and then for a week or two gets a bad digest almost
  every day (there are usually good days interspersed with the bad).

- Since this happens to technically inclined subscribers are well as to
  the technically clueless, I'm not likely to blame it on the subscriber.
  In fact, it happens to me now and then too (I subscribe to check on
  AOL's performance), so I *have* to blame it on AOL instead of me :-)
  Further, since people often have been receiving good digests for some
  time, they clearly know how to handle the digests.

- And, finally, this isn't limited to LISTSERV(R) digests -- in fact
  just *today* someone complained that both my digest AND one from a
  majordomo-based list were unreadable!

Good luck trying to deal with it!

--
Bill Gruber
City University of New York Computer Center