I like the wording of the subject .... How about the following: assuming that programmers try to make messages "nice" and original while preserving a minimum amount of information they'd refrain from wordings a human being could possibly use. Now if we - the humans - would start a subject (and maybe the text too) - with something like "uh, hum" or "ah, err" or "well ..." then it'd be easy for LISTSERV to sort out the non-humans (and therefore the error messages). Of course this wouldn't work forever. I'd expect subjects like: "Well, I hate to say it, but your mailing just didn't make it" to turn up after at most two years ... ....... >Reply-To: SMTP MAILER <[log in to unmask]> >Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <[log in to unmask]> >From: SMTP MAILER <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Mail Delivery Problem >Comments: To: sas-l <[log in to unmask]> >To: Christian Reichetzeder <[log in to unmask]> > > ----Reason for mail failure follows---- >Sending mail to recipient(s) jlorman : > Couldn't make final delivery. > >%MAIL-E-OPENOUT, error opening !AS as output Christian P.S.: Also note: "Couldn't make final delivery." ... watch out for poets as programmers ;-)