Following is a message from Tim Pierce of Rootsweb where these Mail lists are
hosted. "Closing" the list means that only persons subscribed to the list
can post messages to it. This should cut down considerably on the SPAM that
gets through the Rootsweb Filters. This option has always been available to
each listowner but I did not choose to close our lists for a number of reasons
- the most important of which is that I did not want to let these creeps who
send out spam force us to deny the list to people who did not choose to
subscribe.
As the message below spells out, All lists have now been closed.
What will this mean to you. Probably not much. If you are subscribed to the
list, nothing will change except that you should see less SPAM.
Non-subscribers can no longer post messages to the list. Thanks
=========<snip>========================
Hi, listowners --
This announcement is to let you know that we've just finished
"closing" all of the RootsWeb lists. This means that the list server
will only let you post to a mailing list if you subscribe to it.
I'm sorry that this had to be done so hastily, but we didn't really
have any choice. The volume of spam that was being sent through our
lists had reached a phenomenal level, and I was spending most of my
time on that problem rather than improving the systems. Worse, some
users had begun to send spam complaints to sites that were completely
unrelated to RootsWeb, but could kill our network connection if they
received too many complaints. Closing the lists to subscribers became
a matter of self-preservation.
However, in order to make it easier on you, we've changed things to
make it a little more obvious when someone who isn't a subscriber
posts to your list. The list server will add the words "{not a
subscriber}" to the Subject heading of their message, like this:
Subject: {not a subscriber} Ancestors of John BROWN?
When this happens, you can use the "bounce" or "redirect" features of
your e-mail program (if such things are available) to repost this
message to your list, and it should be approved for everyone to see.
Or you can write to the poster and invite them to subscribe.
Important to remember: some folks will subscribe to a mailing list
with one e-mail address, and then try to post with another e-mail
address. They don't mean any harm by this. If you notice that
someone keeps trying to post to the list from an address that isn't
subscribed, and you *want* his posts to be approved, you can add his
address to the "accept list." To do this, follow the "Customize
Settings" link from the bottom of your listowner utility page, and
then choose the option to "Edit the Accept File."
If you have any other questions about managing a closed list, please
feel free to subscribe to NEWBIE-LISTOWNER-L and ask away -- one of
our more seasoned listowners will be glad to answer your questions.
--
Regards,
Tim Pierce
RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative
system obfuscator and hack-of-all-trades
--
John E Cain; 4601 Concord Drive; Garland, TX 75042
http://www.rootsweb.com/~msamite/index.htm -----Amite County MS
http://www.rootsweb.com/~jecain/index.htm ----Cain/Ware list and My Website.