We use a LISTSERV list to send bulk E-mails. The distribution list for each
E-mail is pulled from a 3rd-party database. To handle unsubscribe requests,
everyone who has ever received a bulk E-mail (and not already unsubscribed)
must remain on the list.

The process I've developed for this is:

1. QUIET SET BULKLIST NOMAIL FOR *
2. Bulk ADD the current distribution list
   (note: some users might already be in BULKLIST but since the list is
pulled
   from a 3rd-party DB we have to ADD them again)
3. Issue a QUIET SET BULKLIST MAIL command for all users in #2
   (necessary to turn mail back on for the duplicates for whom the ADD
failed)
4. Send a DISTRIBUTE MAIL-MERGE job with DBMS=LIST(BULKLIST)

This worked well at first, but now that the list has grown to many thousands
of subscribers it is a long cumbersome process.

I'm wondering if I'm missing a better way to do all this. Eventually we will
implement a DBMS for BULKLIST but for now we must do everything through
E-mail or the web interface.

Any suggestions on how to optimize the process would be appreciated.


--
Dave


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