In release 1.6b, delivery  error notices will be sent to  the people listed in
the 'Errors-To='  keyword (whose  default will have  been changed  to 'Owners'
rather than 'Postmaster', after numerous requests from overloaded postmasters)
as a single file,  containing the usual blurb, a banner  line, and the message
in error; for those of you who  are not list owners, previous versions used to
generate a  short nastygram  and a  separate copy of  the mailfile  in Netdata
format (or whatever the preferred format defined for the target's node is).
 
I would now like to hear your  opinion regarding what should be done with mail
forwarded to the editor of moderated lists for approval. The present system is
similar to the "old" way of  returning delivery error mail, ie short nastygram
and  standalone copy  of the  message  in question.  This system  is not  very
convenient as  you will usually get  the nastygram a couple  hours/days before
the message, which is  usually much bigger, and which you  may in fact mistake
for something sent directly to you. On the other hand, you will see the actual
origin and subject  of the note in the  MAIL menu, and the value  of the 'To:'
field (pointing to the list) should identify it for what it is; the message is
sent  unmodified, so  that you  have nothing  to edit  out if  you do  want to
forward it back to the list.
 
What I could  easily do is change  this to generate a single  mail message, as
explained above;  the origin of this  message would be the  LISTSERV userid, I
could set the subject to whatever you want, and the body would contain a short
blurb, a  banner line,  and a  copy of the  original, unmodified  message. The
advantages of  having a single message  rather than 2 are  obvious, however it
should be noted that  this cannot be just forwarded as it is  to the list; you
would need to delete the blurb (unless your purpose is to bore your audience),
and you would have to do something  about the headers in the body, or LISTSERV
would choke on them and reject the  message. Finally, if your did a FORWARD of
that note, the  message would appear as "originally from"  the LISTSERV userid
(if really needed, I could place something else in the "From:" field).
 
Now, I'm the  editor of only one  list, which is (almost)  local, and anything
sent to it by someone else is usually  sent there by mistake, so that I really
don't do any  actual moderator job on that  list. I have no idea  how a "real"
editors handles incoming mail for the  list; this is your opportunity to speak
up and help me design a better system that will make your life easier.
 
  Eric