On Sun, 29 Oct 2000 13:21:33 -0000, Michael Quinion <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >That would seem to conflict with the information in the list >owner's manual, which says the parameter in in the Auto-Delete >Probe() is "the number of days to wait between probes for any >given user". I took that to be an absolute number of days, not >linked to the number of times I post. Or am I misunderstanding >something here? Passive probes can only be sent in regular messages posted to the list. The value of N is the 'number of days' IF your list has daily traffic. IF the list does not have daily traffic (e.g. a once-weekly newsletter) then the N value is the denominator of a fraction of total list subscribers that are 'probed' whenever you send a posting. i.e. 1/27 of your list will be probed each time you send a posting. To probe everybody will take 27/27 or 27 postings or 27 weeks (~6 months) at once/week. This also assumes the list of subscribers remains static for 6 months which may not be a good assumption. This section of the manual will be revised somewhat in the next addition.