On Tue, 5 Nov 1996 02:02:48 -0000 Paul Galloway said:
>I joined this list on the belief that it was a user-support group for those
>using Listserv 95. It would seem that there is precious little user-support
 
Incorrect.  This is a give and take list for LISTSERV administrators for all
ports of the product.  [log in to unmask] is the "LISTSERV for
Windows 95" list.  In the documentation we mention this list because there
are quite a number of extremely experienced LISTSERV administrators here
who might be able to help you answer questions.  We mention LSTOWN-L for
essentially the same reason.
 
>going on, but plenty of begging letters from people wanting a list hosting,
>but too tight to get there hands in their pockets to buy the software !
 
This is normal.  Many people don't have the resources to run a mailing list
on their own hardware.  Traditionally many universities that ran LISTSERV
in the past did not have restrictive policies on running mailing lists as
they do today, and often would host lists for free that they believed
enhanced the academic mission of the university.  This was, of course,
long before the Web and the commercialization of the Internet, and
responsibility-based budgeting in universities where every penny of
CPU time had to be accounted for, AND a concern on the part of the
universities that they were legally responsible for lists hosted on
their machines.  Case in point being the university I came from :)
 
Considering that LISTSERV for Windows 95 is inexpensive shareware and that
there are quite a few freeware solutions out there (including LISTSERV
Lite), I am forced to the conclusion that people write to LSTSRV-L about
starting lists because either (a) they do not feel competent to run a
server of their own or (b) they are simply unaware of the variety of
solutions.  Why not be be positive and help turn this into a learning
experience rather than bitching about it?  We all had to start somewhere.
Even Eric.  :)
 
>Is there an advertisement somewhere suggesting all freeloaders subscribe
>and hold their bowls out here, or does it just feel like that ?
 
As a matter of fact, yes, Norm Aleks' mailing list FAQ is one place where
they get this information.  My suggestion to you is to simply delete these
messages.  Writing to the list and complaining about it doesn't help,
because most of the time these folks aren't even subscribed to the list.
 
Nathan