Just to come full circle, I gook Ben's advice, and used the nomail option.
To enable topics support, I used the DBMS interface, created a column for
each topic type, and using a trigger - populated the columns from the
option column. I also hacked up the www template for join/unsub to show
only topics without the rest of the options.

So, it's secure, there is little/no programming or maint, the archives
work, and a novice list owner can run the mail-merge.

Thanks all: Michael


>
>On Wed, 29 Jan 2003 08:26:38 -0500, Ben Parker <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>
>>
>>* DEFAULT-OPTIONS= NOMAIL   (sets all new subscribers to NOMAIL)
>>QUIET SET listname NOMAIL FOR *@*
>>  (sets all current subscribers to NOMAIL)
>>Add the List Address as a Subscsriber:
>>  QUIET ADD listname [log in to unmask]
>>  Notebook= Yes, e:\listplex\peach\lists\lstown-l,monthly,public