Norma wrote, in part..
> Just a couple of "newbie" questions.  I'm setting up my first
> one-way/announce list and it has over 10,000 names on it.  I'm scared stiff
> I'm going to get umpteen thousand requests to be removed.

Assuming everyone asks to be removed (once), that's less than
umpteen thousand.  Umpteen thousand is a lot more than 10,000. :-)

The current mailing list *fad* is opt-in.  The opt-in doesn't have to be
*via* the mailing list, but people have come to expect opt-in.  A
corollary to opt-in is that mailing lists have easy opt-out, which often
means signoff directions near the end of each announcement mailing.
LISTSERV makes this easy for you, as this might be as simple as a
"mailto:" hyperlink to "listname-unsubscribe-request" for easy signoff.
A human-read alternative might be well-received and help keep
subscribers.

> 1. Should a recipient hit the reply button on an "announce only" list, what
> happens to the message?

What do you want to happen?  You can set the "Reply-to:" mail
header line to be anything you want.  The mail reading software of
many of your subscribers will actually use it. Some won't.  Some will
use the "From:" address, so it is important that posts made to your list
be "From:" an address that you have evaluated as appropriate. This
might be another mailing list that responds with a boilerplate (fixed)
message that may or may not imply later response from a human.

> 2.  Should someone choose to hit "reply" to remove themselves from the list
> instead of following the directions and write the server, what happens?

Depends on what you want to happen.  I'd probably make the reply
address be an "answering machine" list as I've described above.  You
probably *want* to have subscribers easily signoff or ask questions,
but I wouldn't go so far as to make the "reply fields" point to a signoff
URL.  Maybe put the signoff URL in the text of the announcement or in
the response-only list mentioned above.

> 3.  If I send the message out to the list, will all of the responses as in 1
> and 2 above come to my personal mailbox?  If so, how do I send a message
> from the "list" and not me?

Probably not.  You might do as I suggest in answer to your Q1, or just
create a new mailbox for this function.  You could probably get by with
your current mailbox, but there will be times when this project will have
significant e-mail traffic, and you may not want your other
responsibilities (and use of mailbox) to suffer.  Your list-owner mailbox
should probably have relatively high limits for number and volume of
awaiting e-mail.

Exactly *how* you send e-mail to your list "from" the address you
want, depends on your local facilities ... contact your local e-mail
support or administration.

> (Jittery as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.)

Get off the floor and up on the fireplace mantel!  If you don't have
experience setting up lists, hire LSOFT or someone to go through your
plans, setup and expectations.  This list can be helpful, especially if
you can ask specific questions and relate them to planned list settings.
And, as Pete, I think, suggested ... set up a test list ... or your real list
with just a few close friends as subscribers and test away until you
and your friends have worked out everything you can think of!

Hope this helps,

Wayne T. Smith                       mailto:[log in to unmask]
Systems Group - UNET                 University of Maine System
LISTSERV maintainer for http://lists.Maine.edu/