The syntax of  the DELETE and SIGNOFF  commands have been enhanced  in 1.5n to
allow  node administrators  to remove  deleted accounts  from all  (well most)
LISTSERV lists. The previous syntax was:
 
   SIGNOFF listname (options
 
   DELETE listname userid@node (options
 
Only the list owners  were authorized to remove users from  a list. The syntax
has been expanded to provide the following new facilities:
 
- Registered node administrators  (NADs) can use the DELETE  command to remove
  their users from any list. They may validate the command with their personal
  LISTSERV password (if they have one),  in which case a full deletion process
  will take place. If the NAD did  not validate the command (either because he
  doesn't have a  password for the target  server or because he  forgot to use
  it), a "weak" delete  will be performed which will either  send a request to
  the list  owner (as  a SIGNOFF command  would do, but  the text  is slightly
  different) or perform a full deletion, depending  on the way the list is set
  up.
 
- An asterisk  may be  used for  'listname', meaning that  the user  should be
  removed from all lists known to  the server. This was already possible under
  1.5m.
 
- 'DD=ddname'  may be  substituted to  'userid@node', indicating  that several
  users are  to be  removed at  once. The specified  dataset must  contain one
  userid@node per line; blank lines and comment lines (starting with '*') will
  be ignored.
 
- A new option, 'NETWIDE', may be specified to request LISTSERV to forward the
  job  to  all  the known  servers.  If  such  a  request is  submitted  to  a
  non-backbone server, it will immediately  forward it to the nearest backbone
  LISTSERV, which will  then distribute it to all the  registered LISTSERVs in
  the world  (including the  non-backbone ones). However  non-backbone servers
  tend not to be updated very often and may not recognize the request.
 
- Finally, there is another new option,  'UPCASE', which will cause case to be
  ignored  during  the search.  This  is  useful  for internet  addresses  and
  superfluous for BITNET/EARN [log in to unmask]
 
Thus,  a user  who wants  his account  removed from  all lists  would use  the
following command:
 
                     SIGNOFF * (NETWIDE
 
A node  administrator wishing  to remove  a bunch of  accounts from  all known
lists would have to submit a job to the nearest backbone server:
 
//Addio JOB Echo=No
        DELETE * DD=Names (NETWIDE
//Names DD *
*
* Partirono le rondine
* del mio paese fredo e senza sol...
*
userid1@node1
userid2@node2
(...)
/*
 
An important thing to  note is that a NAD does not have  any kind of authority
on users subscribed under an internet address. For example, someone subscribed
as [log in to unmask] could NOT be deleted by the CUNYVM NAD. This is not a
bug, and there is nothing I can do  about it at the moment. The reason is just
that there is presently no way to know that CUNYVM and CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU are the
same machine.
 
  Eric