Remarks on the last of Harry's suggestions:
 
1.  There is  no  such  thing as  a  "neighbour  LISTSERV" unfortunately.  The
   LISTSERV topology is fixed, unlike the NETSERV one. This has advantages and
   drawbacks.
 
2. PEERS NAMES  and LINKSWT FILE are maintained ONLY  on the backbone servers.
   If a server refuses  a PUT command on these files, I  will get notified and
   may track the problem down. The  only problem is with postmasters who chose
   to disable  remote installation of  these files  and forget to  update them
   manually. DIST2 is able to life in an environment where each server has its
   own versions  of the three files.  The server processing the  DIST2 request
   defines the complete routing followed by  the file. The only thing that can
   happen  is  a problem  because  of  a server  that  no  longer exists  (-->
   recipients transferred  to the  local server), or  inefficient distribution
   because links have moved, and this is not fatal.
 
Eric