I have twice seen a user subscribed to a list (I-KERMIT) under a very
peculiar address: it was mostly an ordinary Internet-style address,
but it was enclosed in angle brackets <>.  As it happens, such an
address triggers a syntax error in the BSMTP file sent to VM Mailer,
which means that lots of subscribers other than the peculiar one
stop getting their mailings.  Question: how could such an address
get into the list in the first place, given that LISTSERV is supposed
to extract the true return address when executing commands by mail?
E.g., would the following trigger the problem?
 
   From: <[log in to unmask]>
 
This form of address was formerly considered illegal (by RFC822), but
it was used quite a lot anyway, and I would have thought that LISTSERV
handled it ok.  Besides, it's now officially allowed.
 
I'm not an owner of the list, so I can't swear that the user wasn't
ADD'ed by a sloppy owner, but I *am* a subscriber, and I know that
the result is a stoppage of mail.  Can someone assure me that the
problem has to have been an owner, rather than the mail software at
the user's site?  Would it make sense for LISTSERV to filter out
enclosing brackets to protect lists from this sort of nonsense?
                                        John