So let's say I wanted to build an click here to unsubscribe link into
emails being sent by LISTSERV...

I can't really do variable substitution beyond listname, email address,
etc.

We use database/mail merge functionality on some lists that are not
stored on LISTSERV. In those instances we feed a series of letters and
numbers called an encrypted user ID, as a variable, and it is used to
build the unsubscribe link, which looks something like this:
http://www.digitalriver.com/ecm/opt-out?hs7s7d73ggavb and that works.

That works reqlly good. But, can't do that for straight mailmerge
mailings to a LISTSERV list.

But I could build a CGI like this:

[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]

and feed my CGI both the listname and email address, and then have the
CGI auto format the LISTSERV unsubscribe email.

I'm concerned about forgery though...Mess with that URL, maybe change
the email address to the email address of somebody who hates spam or
gets bombarded with these things (say, people at MAPS for example) and
then they get a LISTSERV email response that says "You are no subscribed
to this list," which would be bad and annoying. Maybe I just have
LISTSERV just do "quite deletes" and not confirm them via an email
response. That should remove people who match, but ignore funny stuff.

I'd also need to make sure that spaces, asterisks, etc., couldn't be
encapsulated in the URL.

Any thoughts?

Before you say, "web-based opt-out is yucky", :-) consider that based on
my experience, it's a lot easier for some people to figure out than
sending LISTSERV an email saying "unsubscribe LISTNAME" -- especially
taking into account address forwarding and subdomain mismatches.

Best regards,
Al Iverson

--
Al Iverson -- [log in to unmask] -- Minneapolis, Minnesota
Support Jazz in Minnesota! -- http://www.mnjazz.com/
All opinions are mine alone unless I state otherwise.
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