--- Temporary 'closing' of a LIST / Eugenio Gatto. - Torino, 1995-02-14
 
"... to 'SUSPEND' a list ... and then re-activate it a couple of weeks
later?" [David Mark]
 
Mmmm... : I think that using HOLD / FREE as already suggested could
worsen things at re-opening. With the HOLD command files stay in the
spool, flooding out quickly when released by FREE, and even for a modest
mean daily traffic this could be quite a burden (not for the machine,
perhaps, but for subscribers: and many postings would be of
disappointment for list misfunctioning).
 
I think that the list should be really closed. Perhaps following
this procedure:
 
1) Advertise in advance to the list itself
2) Keep a good copy of the LIST file
3) Say in the list header "Temporarily suspended, will reopen on ..."
4) Change headers to SUBSCRIPTION=CLOSED or BY-OWNER, and SEND=PRIVATE
5) DELETE everybody (*@*), warning then, appropriately modifying "You
have been removed ..." in DEFAULT MAILTPL (I am not sure if a FAREWELL
file could do, perhaps it is sent at UNSUBSCRIBE, but not at DELETE);
leave yourself as the only subscriber.
6) HOLD the list, if you really fear that something can happen
7) Have a good time away ... and when you are back
8) FREE the list, if you held it, to see if anything happened that needs
to be dealt with before reopening
9) Restore list from the copy kept at (2).
 
Surely better ideas can come from more experienced owners then myself.
 
<-- Eugenio Gatto    (CIDEM, Politecnico di Torino, Italia)
                     (list owner [log in to unmask])