On Jun 19, 22:24, <[log in to unmask]> wrote: } Your message is being returned to you unprocessed because it seems to have } been already sent to the SCIFAQ-L list.... Chris Lewis; [log in to unmask]: >Someone has obviously set up a news -> mail -> LISTSERV gateway. >LISTSERV is a rather substantial package used for maintaining mailing >lists hosted on IBM mainframes. I am the "owner" of SCIFAQ-L, a LISTSERV mailing list for distributing Usenet FAQs posted in sci.answers. I have corresponded with the person above (who signs "ltr") to track down what happened. I'm sorry to have takend so long; I am on vacation and don't have many opportunities to read my e-mail. >LISTSERVs keep checksums around to detect when duplicates of >a message are received. This is, in part, to reduce mail loops. >I just got hit with one of these because I posted the wiring FAQ >twice in 12 hours by accident. ... I don't know what ltr did, but I suspect ltr simply posted an FAQ that was identical to the previous version, perhaps too soon after the previous posting. I have read everything I can find about LISTSERV administration, so now it is time to bow my head and ask humbly whether the checksum heuristic can be manipulated to relax the restriction on duplicate messages for SCIFAQ-L, and what the default parameters are now. I am also the author of an FAQ distributed via sci.answers, and I have had no problems like this, but I certainly understand the annoyance that the SCIFAQ-L list may be causing to other FAQ authors. Please be patient, everyone: the Usenet -> LISTSERV gateway for sci.answers is an important extension of the existing distribution system. Many sites can not get Usenet feeds, for whatever reason, but do have Usenet software that can be used to organize and share LISTSERV mailing list subscriptions as though they were Usenet groups. SCIFAQ-L is, as far as I know, the first gateway from Usenet to a mailing list, and the first mailing list gated to a *.answers newsgroup. It is only a few months old, so it is not surprising that there are a few problems. Una Smith Department of Biology [log in to unmask] Yale University New Haven, CT 06511