On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:40:46 -0400, Jeff Kiesel <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>So how can this problem be resolved?  

In the present situation, it probably can't.  It certainly cannot be resolved
by  setting changes in LISTSERV, although this list is a good place to ask for
advice about broad issues like this.

>If I participate on a list with 3,000
>members, I'm expected to endure thousands of OOO replies each time I post to
>the list?  

A discussion list (all members can send/receive) of 3,000 subscribers is
unusual.  Even so, it is extremely unlikely that all the other 2,999 are OOO
at the same time you send your message.  

Especially in a business environment, you will get OOO messages back if you
just CC: a bunch of other people, or use an Exchange Distribution list.  It
has nothing necessarily to do with LISTSERV.  This just happens.  Dealing with
OOO msgs is a necessary skill that people in such environments need to learn,
not complain about it.

>There has to be a better way.

>I've read the posts about telling the users to switch their subscriptions to
>digest when they are away.  That's a good idea - but let's face it - users
>are users.  The majority of them will forget to do this.  

The List Owner can also do this for mis-behaving subscribers (people who have
not switched to Digest when away) or remove erring subscribers from the list.
That is the decision of the List Owner in how they want to manage their list
and their subscribers.  Again, in a business environment there may be more
constraints on a closed, internal list, the powers of the list owner, etc. But
then we are back to learning a necessary user skill.

>We shouldn't have
>to rely on users to eliminate this behavior.  The user also shouldn't be
>burdened with the additional responsibility.

Hogwash!  This falls in the same class of civil courtesy to people you
associate with as saying "please" and "thank you".  The only difference is it
occurs in a work environment, via a technological object (computer).  I guess
a lot of people don't understand this.  :-/

>Has anyone used, perhaps, a third party tool like an smtp listener to filter
>out OOO replies?  I'm really grasping at straws here...anyone have any ides?

Most mail clients nowadays (Outlook included) have a variety of filtering
options that can be applied to incoming mail.