This is what I do: I have a personal filter going too.. Anyone trying to subscribe from one of the free e-mail sites or from AOL with a username which is very different from their actual name (as given) or anyone trying to get on without a name.. gets the following message. DOROTHYL Verification Cc: Bcc: X-Attachments: Dear , We are scanning DOROTHYL for people who's names do not match their user id's and are using commercial ISPs, etc. in order to try to prevent problems we've had in the past with flaming, spamming, spoofing, etc. from such addresses. My apologies if this is all just coincidence. However, we need to verify that you are a real person. Your geographical location..city, country etc. would be helpful and we need to know why you want to join DOROTHYL. Cordially, Diane aka Harriet Vane DOROTHYL Founder They must reply to be added. If they are willing to reply then I guess they are okay... if they aren't then they don't get added. Once in all the time I've done this...two years now....I've had someone spazz about answering and I think she/he was our returning troll. 8(. In one instance on our list the troll was also guilty of stalking a famous author who in consultation with us called the FBI into the case. The stalker/troll ceased after a call from the FBI but we do not want her back on. It has worked so far...also this keeps off the spammers fairly well. E-mail me privately and I'll share some of the addresses that set me off. Cordially, Diane > >Does anyone have any suggestions about how to discourage and detect banned >ex-list members from returning with a fake identity? I have already set >subscription= By owner,confirm but there is no easy way to detect a >determined >troublemaker from what I can tell. Does anyone have any experience with the >legal aspects of this problem? >-- >Walter Potter Diane K. Kovacs - Kovacs Consulting Internet & World Wide Web Training http://www.kovacs.com _Building Electronic Library Collections: The Essential Guide to Selection Criteria and Core Subject Collections_ (2000) Neal-Schuman Publishers http://www.neal-schuman.com