On Thu, 01 Oct 1998 20:52:34 EDT, you said:
>     I don't understand why ListServ is so expencive, and why I can not find
> anouther host that has it besides LSoft.

Well, I can't speak for other sites, but here's the breakdown on *our*
costs (more or less, a lot of guesstimates here):

$3,000/yr   Listserv software license and support
$15,000     IBM RS6000/J30
$10,000/yr  fraction of my salary/overhead/etc going towards running Listserv
$500/yr     Floor space, electricity, backup tapes, etc.

Now mind you, this *is* to support 2,500+ lists and 500,000 outbound
messages a day... But...

That's a hefty chunk of change.  As a result, the powers that be have
declared that we won't sponsor a list unless it's either owned by a
person affiliated with Virginia Tech, or clearly advances the mission
of Virginia Tech.  We don't charge for the service, so we can't make
exceptions - that would get us going down a VERY steep slope, and end
up not being able to properly support our university community.

And yes, $3K/year is pretty expensive for the software.  On the other
hand, I know that I'm a pretty good codeslinger myself, but I'd be
totally unable to write a product as overall robust and usable as what
LSoft provides, on the number of hours/week $3K/year would pay for.

Remember that every single Listserv site is either (a) at a commercial
provider who is there to Make Money (such as AOL, etc) where it is
used as a source of revenue by billing users, or (b) is at a
university, company, or organization where it's a tool to support
whatever they *are* in business to do. I'm sure that the people at LSoft
will be happy to correct me if I'm wrong here. ;)

--
                                Valdis Kletnieks
                                Computer Systems Senior Engineer
                                Virginia Tech