Hi listserv people,

Occasionally I get a request to set up a non-confidential
(i.e. public) list with a name which would duplicate that
of an existing list in the CataList.  At some time in the
past I recall reading instructions on naming public lists
which stated that one should go to the CataList to make
sure that one's chosen list name was not already in use.
So when I get these requests I generally contact the
requestor to find out whether they would rather take their
second-choice name or make their list confidential.
(Often enough it turns out that they really should have a
confidential list anyway, as their list is intended only
for their small well-defined group and not for the public
at large.)

Recently I received such a request and as I was composing
my email to the requestor, I thought to check the online
Listserv documentation to see whether L-Soft is still
concerned about this duplicate-name issue.  In the 1.8e
documentation (we are actually on 1.8d but for something
like this it seemed best to look in the current docs), I
found sections on "Naming Conventions" in both the Site
Manager's manual and the List Owner's manual.  Neither one
mentioned this issue at all, unless I was looking in the
wrong place....

Does this mean that I can now set up lists without having
to check the name against the CataList?  That would be a
great relief (and sometimes I get the feeling I'm the only
one doing it anymore anyway).

Margaret King
Michigan State University