Recently I asked about getting my unruly list under control and I got a lot of useful replies, which I summarized and sent to a group of 15 members whose counsel I respect and with whom I hope to reach a decision on what to do. Anyway, one of the items of advice that came up a couple of times was subscription by owner (it is now public). I am just wondering why and how this would make a list more decorous. It seems to me that, unless I am missing a crucial clue, you can't tell anything about what kind of member the person would be just from the LISTSERV Request to Join message. That is, unless you then sent out a rather involved questionnaire to the wouldbe member. Wouldn't this take an awfully long time? I remember that when the list subscription was by owner (when the list was still minute), it used to take me quite a long time each day and I made tons of mistakes when inputting addresses and names. Now, with people joining at the rate of around 9 a day, every day, I think it would be impractical. Am I missing something? What's the point? How would it help control a list? Peace, Anthea Tillyer City University of New York [log in to unmask]