Hi all,

        I  just  wanted  to take a moment to share my experiences as a
     list-admin for another mailing list.  The only reason I am  doing
     this, is to let everybody know that running a publicly accessible
     mailing list is really a thankless job.  And, unless you've  been
     "around  the  'Net"  a time or two you should probably resist the
     urge to tell a list-admin how to do their job.

        The Internet -- with  it's  mailing  lists,  IRC  chat  rooms,
     USENET news groups among many communication vehicles -- is a wild
     and untamed place.  And, with mailing lists in particular, it has
     become open to what I have come to call Verbal Terrorism.

        Most  of  this  mailing  list  probably wouldn't even consider
     posting to this list under an assumed name and  trying  to  cause
     trouble.   But,  I can tell you from experience that it does hap-
     pen.  With all of the free e-mail services -- Yahoo,  RocketMail,
     HotMail,  and the like -- it is all too easy to assume an identi-
     ty, join a mailing list, and cause trouble without anybody  being
     able to know who you really are.

        And,  with these free, Web-based e-mail services, you can hide
     your "tracks" too.  There are several Web-services out there that
     offer  what is usually called a proxy-server.  Normally, when you
     send an e-mail from a non-Web-based service, it identifies the IP
     address  or  domain  name  that you sent the mail from.  A simple
     note to that IP- or domain's  administrator  is  usually  all  it
     takes  to  stop  some  type  of abuse.  But, if you set your Web-
     browser's proxy services, they guarantee that your "tracks" won't
     be traceable.

        As with my list-problems, somebody who didn't like the purpose
     of my list simply signed up for a free e-mail account, signed  up
     to  use a proxy server, and started sending harassing mail to the
     list.  I unsubscribed them, but they just assumed another identi-
     ty  with another e-mail service, and at times changed their proxy
     service, and resubscribed to the list and  continued  with  their
     harassment.

        There  are  really  only  three  options: 1)take the list down
     (which is what my problem-child was trying to do); 2) do whatever
     you can to identify the perpetrator and "shine the light on them"
     in public; or 3) turn the moderated option on.  The moderated op-
     tion  forces  the  list-admin  to  approve a message before it is
     posted to the list.  IMO this is the worst  thing  to  do  and  a
     sure-fire way to get a mass-exodus from the list.

        I don't know if I've been on the Parkinson's list for any type
     of list-harassment -- I read the digest and try to scan the  crud
     while looking for topics of interest.  But, I can say that what I
     have read recently about a certain list problem,  it  looks  like
     our  list-admin is doing one of the two things that I believe are
     appropriate.  But, if they are forced to turn the  moderated  op-
     tion on ...

        I know that I write way too much in replies I make to most any
     list -- a problem with being an author, a tech-nerd, and a  'Net-
     junkie  I  guess.  But, this is really just my long-winded way of
     saying that I think the list  is  doing  fine.   Sure,  sometimes
     there  are  little  "blips"  in the posting patterns on different
     subjects and the like.  But, all-in-all it looks, feels,  smells,
     tastes,  and sounds just like almost every mailing list I've ever
     been on.

        So, list-admins, keep up the good work.  I think you are doing
     just fine.  That's what I grok anyway ...

Bill--
  ...who thinks that every solution breeds new problems.
.___. William A. ....._..._ .......7177 Heritage Drive+- //\ -(42?)- /\\ +
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