On Tue, 15 May 2001, Doug Wheeler wrote: > Douglas, > If the content is essential, then it is essential, regardless if the list > has 10 subscribers or 1000 subscribers. If the Head of Product Development > does not get the information sent, it could be a costly error for the > corporation. In many cases information dissemination is not a convenience > for the client; it can readily fall into the emission critical status. You are talking about using lists to sell a product, while I am talking about lists for discussion within a profession. Yes, if you are running a corporate list, to sell a product, that the message was not received by 0.1, or even 0.01 per cent of the "clients" might be important. But, presumably, as these folk are your clients, you have all the information you need to get the information to them via a different venue once you know there was a problem with list email delivery, and if your job is to ensure that every client gets the information immediately you will pursue all the options for each client. I, though, don't run corporate lists, I run professional discussion lists. I do not worry at all that 1 of 4,000 subscribers had a mail delivery problem: it is transient, will correct itself, the person can catch up, if he wishes, from the archives: if it isn't transient, delete the sub, the person can resubscribe and catch up from the archives, if he so wishes: etc. You must feed your subscribers (clients) with essential information, while I make essential information available to subscribers at their discretion. For you a 0.01 per cent loss may be a disaster, particularly if time is of the essence, but for me it is nothing; the information is in the archives and in most instances it matters not a whit whether they read it today or next week. Douglas