hi. i co-own a very busy list that has developed two unrelated problems.
the first is non-technical, but i hope someone can shed some light.
our list has rules against flaming and we have a system of warning
levels. if a poster continues to violate list rules, we send 2 private
warnings then a public utimatum, then banishment. basically, we slap
their address into the filter for 30 days. if, after 30 days they come
back and climb the warning ladder again, they go forever. recently, a
poster has earned himself a public utimatum. he has since posted threats
to complain to the site that houses the list (my employer) that we are
violating his 1st amendment rights. another poster has actually
threatened to flood the email accounts of the administrators at my
university to try and get the list shut down. these are two very hostile
people who are not welcome contributors to an otherwise decent list.
 
i was wondering whether any other lists have had problems w/hostile
posters who try to disrupt the list and cause great stress for other
members of the list? also, is there any protection for owners from this
sort of harrassment?
 
my second, more technical question concerns repeating mail. this past
week our list has sorta been showing reruns. basically, it looks like
certain posts are being re-generated by a gateway somewhere...or are
being re-sent through a gateway. we've had repeats of the past
wednesday, thursday and friday posts. it looks like the problem may have
stopped, but i've noticed that a lot of mailing sites are down (drycas
and umkc for two), so its hard to tell.
 
does anyone know what could cause a problem like this? and how could i
trace it or eliminate it?
 
oh, i don't know if it matters, but our list is accessible through
usenet as one of the bit.listserv lists. could this have something to do
w/the problem?
 
thanks for any help you all can give.
linda
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