>Maybe, maybe not. Why  can't listserv just check to see  if all message lines
>are valid listserv  commands? If just one  line is found that is  not a valid
>listserv command, then the  whole thing is mail. This would  take care of 99%
>of the bogus  things that are posted to lists  by ignorant (read, uneducated)
>users.  (I can  hear the  objection  now... "it'll  mean having  to scan  the
>message  body  twice." Only  seldom.  Normally,  the  command files  will  go
>directly to listserv, not a list, mail files will usually be detected as such
>on the very first line.)
 
1. If you have  a signature after your command, it is likely  to be an invalid
   command and will cause the file to be treated as mail.
 
2. You forget about the '//' control  lines, which are valid inside a job file
   and are difficult enough to syntax-check.
 
The only way out  would be to execute the mailfile first,  stopping as soon as
an invalid  line is encountered (which  is already the case  anyway), and then
treat it as mail  if no command was successfully executed.  I hope you realize
that this is really dirty programming.
 
  Eric