I have a request for an improvement to Listserv.

This morning I sent a private e-mail for which I had set my Reply-to: to
my LISTNAME-REQUEST address.  As it happens, one of the addresses I sent
to had an old-style responder which auto-replies to *every* message it
receives, rather than responding only once to any unique address within
a certain time interval.  Well, it responded to my LISTNAME-REQUEST
address, which itself sends out an automated REQACK1 template message,
so they got into an infinite loop.

I knew to insert .QQ into the REQACK1 message to break the loop.  The
loop was taking 3 seconds per cycle, and I was able to break the loop
after a mere 400 exchanges had occured.  If I had not noticed the
problem by downloading my mail again soon after the loop had started, I
and those who also receive my LISTNAME-REQUEST mail may have received
several dozen megabytes of looped mail.

I regret that some people still have obsolete, reply-to-every-message
autoresponders.  But upon reflection, their softeware is only half of
the problem.

I'd like to request that the auto-reply process of Listserv's
LISTNAME-REQUEST addresses match the procedure of modern autoresponders
that respond only once to any unique address within a certain time
interval, specifically to prevent mail loops.

Thanks for your consideration.

-- Roger Burns, listowner