> Hey, if  Eric wants to  write code for Listserv that  will take care of a
> problem that is not his to deal with, that is up to him.
 
Well, actually it *is*  LISTSERV's problem --  LISTSERV's job is  to handle
the    daily  administrivia of lists,    with  authority delegated from the
listowner.  That LISTSERV interprets some error  messages is a huge help to
listowners -- all this thread is asking for, really, is that  it be able to
interpret a few more  formats than  it does.   Seems reasonable to  me.  Of
course it  won't  be able to  interpret  *every* format, so listowners  are
always going to  get a few oddballs, but  my bet is that interpreting  just
one or two formats  more would handle a large  number of the most  annoying
errors for listowners like Kathleen.  One example: last  I looked (and this
may have changed, please don't flame me if so), LISTSERV for Unix would not
interpret   MIME-format errors.  Another: lots   of errors come from Taylor
uucp sites -- though  it's not very  common, when it  blows up it generates
*lots*  of error   mail, thus lots  of  mail  that has to  be   seen by the
listowner.  Another: last I looked (again,  this might've changed), AOL had
error messages that  were unique and not  recognized by LISTSERV.  Yet  its
subscribers make up  a near majority  of  many lists --  interpreting their
error messages  alone would probably make  list-life  much easier for many.
The  point is just   to look at the   most common annoyances,  in this case
common formats for returned errors, and try to handle them.
 
Another thought ...  something listowners complain of is that bounces often
include the  (now useless) original  message, which on  a digest-by-default
list like LACTNET is quite  big.  Perhaps LISTSERV could  at least scan the
message for what looks like  an attached original message ("From: Automatic
digest   processor  <[log in to unmask]>",  blah   blah blah), then
truncate at that point?   It could be switchable, so  if the algorithm made
bad choices the listowner could revert to the current behavior.
 
Norm
--
(Pouring:) "Have a cup - what do you think?" (The other sips.) "It's fine."
(Triumphantly:) "It's instant!" (The other, pausing:) "Yeah? Instant what?"