There's a new generation of anti-spam software. That sounds
great to anyone tired of being deluged with offers for on-line
prescriptions. mortgage refinancing, getting rich quick with a
Nigerian banker, anatomy enlargement, etc.
Unfortunately a new-ish approach to anti-spam software, called
Challenge - Response, is a problem for mail lists because these
programs require the sender to "prove" being a human (via a
response).
Some ISP, such as EarthLink offer this as an option. Other
vendors distribute their software to end users. Names include:
Spam Arrest, Mailblocks, and Matador.
The specfics vary slightly for each system, but in general, for
each mail list that you wish to continue receive mail from, e.g.
CAMPBELL-PA-NELSON-L(a)rootsweb.com,
you will have to add the name
to your "Accept" address book or "whitelist" it. The same applies to
notices
about sales from mail order business you deal with, notices of software updates
from Symantec, McAfee,
Microsoft, etc.
It's up to you, but before signing up for such a system you
should be aware that you will need to "whitelist" each mail
list you want to continue getting mail from. Similarly, if
you subscribe to new lists in the future, you will also have
to "whitelist" each new list name.
If you decice to use such software you really should also
"whitelist" an administrator for each list as well, e.g.
CAMPBELL-PA-NELSON-admin(a)rootsweb.com. The hello and goodbye
messages when you subscribe and unsubscribe come from "admin".
Otherwise, when RootsWeb's ListMail program sends a message, it
will "bounce" back and not be delivered. The 4th bounce - the
4th message from a given list (or 4th digest) - will cause
ListMail to automatically unsubscribe you. In that case you
could still read the archives, but couldn't post messages.
I hope we don't loose anyone, but if you sart using one of these
spam blockers and mail list messages no longer reach you, you'll
know why.