I would like to clarify a few things about the LISTSERV backbone:

1. It is turned off by default. You have to register your server *and*
change your configuration to join the backbone. It is impossible to register
accidentally by pressing the wrong button or making a typing mistake in a
configuration file, because you have to enter information about your site,
and the registration is manually processed at L-Soft.

2. There are only 93 backbone servers (many of them run by L-Soft). The
issues that have been mentioned recently are only applicable to these 93
servers. A customer that did not register to join the backbone need not
worry about any of these issues.

3. There is no relationship between being on the backbone and being able to
use the F-Secure Anti-Virus system. These two features are totally
independent.

4. Although there is a technical relationship between being on the backbone
and CataList, all the functionality of CataList is available to non-backbone
servers via the CataList web site operated by L-Soft (you do need to be on
the backbone to operate a CataList service on your own hardware, which was
popular back when overseas surfing was sluggish).

5. Only the 93 backbone servers mentioned above use the backbone to deliver
mail to end users. Even then, this delivery is limited to domains for which
another backbone site has registered. That is, organizations that register
for backbone membership can carry traffic to their own domain over the
backbone. In the 80s and early 90s, a lot of sites took care of traffic for
entire countries, but nowadays we are very restrictive about this. The only
such remaining cases are sites that have proved to be very reliable. And,
again, only 93 servers use the backbone anyway, so for most people this is
irrelevant.

So why do we keep the backbone? Quite simply because it would cost time and
money to shut it down. Time and effort would have to be spent removing a
feature from the product and testing the impact of this change on people
still running an older version (many of whom have change control procedures
that preclude a quick upgrade). We would also have to develop and implement
a new method for the delivery of CataList updates and so on. This is a
high-effort, low-value change that does not fit our focus for 15.0 - to
revamp the web interface and integrate it with LISTSERV Maestro's for a
shared look and feel (mainly Maestro's looks and feel, but with the best
features of the LISTSERV interface retained, and new ones added). The
backbone is purely optional, and people who find that the cons outweigh the
pros can always leave.

  Eric