On Wed, 16 Sep 1998 16:23:29 EDT, Andi DesJardins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>My list members who use WEBTV, and now YAHOO, are unable to access the
>archives without being constantly prompted for a login.
>
>From what I am able to determine, the software thinks that my members are
>trying to access the archives from a computer other than the one they
>subscribed on.  This is not the case.
>
>Apparently there is a conflict between the listserv software and WEBTV and
>YAHOO that may have something to do with the subscriber's server being remote
>from the subscriber themself.  (I don't understand any of this).

The problem really is that WebTV, Yahoo, etc customers are not truly
'connected' to the internet.  They are connected  a 'farm' of several
computers working in tandem between them and the internet called Proxy
Servers.

The user enters a URL in their browser and clicks (or clicks on a new link)
That computer sends a signal out, supposedly to the destination.
Except it never gets there.  It is intercepted by the Proxy Server, which
changes it slightly and inserts its own IP address as the origin and then
sends the request to the destination.  It comes back, the proxy server
remembers where that particular request goes and feeds it back to the user.

The problem is that the next time you click a link for the next page, a
completely different proxy server will likely be the one to process the
request.  So when LISTSERV says your machine is apparently different, that is
really so because LISTSERV is now talking to a new/different proxy server, not
to the end users's machine (which of course has not changed but LISTSERV does
not know that).

AOL also uses proxy servers but they usually assign one server to you for the
whole time you are browsing so this problem doesn't occur.  It is also not a
problem for ordinary non-secure web-browsing, but for private lists LISTSERV
must authenticate the user for each and every access to preserve security and
the changes made by the proxy server appear (to LISTSERV) like a hacking
attempt so it must ask for another login to re-establish security.

There is a trade off with lowcost/free services like WebTV and Yahoo and this
is one thing you just have to put up with.  If you don't want this, you must
use a real ISP that gives you real (non-proxy) access to the internet.  This
costs more, but you get what you pay for.