I contacted Jean Dickey at Clemson University who is the list owner
of BIOLAB for info on how the "junk" is screened. THe following is
her reply.
>From: IN%"dickeyj at CLEMSON.EDU" "Jean Dickey" 16-JUN-1997 10:59:13.94
>To: IN%"HEATH at XAVIER.XU.EDU" "LINDA HEATH, BIOLOGY"
>CC:
>Subj: RE: time moderating BIOLAB
>
>>Hi Linda,
>>>To answer your question, Biolab is not moderated. That is, I don't screen =
>the mail and decide whether it should be posted. We don't have junk mail =
>on the list because a while back I "closed" the list. This means that =
>only subscribers can post. Listproc, the software that runs the list, will =
>only distribute a message if its return address matches one on the =
>subscriber list. All other messages are rejected.
>>There is nothing to prevent a determined advertiser or flame-thrower from =
>subscribing to Biolab and then posting. If that happens, I can ban the =
>offender by telling Listproc to "ignore" posts from that address. (That =
>hasn't happened.)
>>There is one problem that results from closing the list. If a subscriber's =
>e-mail address changes even slightly, he or she is not recognized by listpr=
>oc as a subscriber. Then I usually have to "edit" the subscribers list to =
>fix the problem. For example, your address is HEATH at XAVIER.XU.EDU. If =
>your system administrator changed that to HEATH at Biology.XAVIER.XU.EDU then =
>your postings would be rejected. (You would also be unable to execute =
>commands such as postpone).
>>If plant-ed is an e-mail list and not a newsgroup, then the list-owner =
>should be able to have the list closed. In my case, I don't handle any of =
>that programming stuff. The "system janitor" in charge of the university =
>mail system does it on my request. If plant-ed is actually a USENET =
>newsgroup, then you either have to resort to having a moderator or put up =
>with the junk. That's a huge advantage of e-mail lists, and the =
>membership might want to consider becoming a list.
>>I hope this helps. Feel free to quote anything I said.
>>I've got to get back to the e-mail pile. I hope your workshop is going (=
>or went) well.
>>Jean
>>>LINDA HEATH, BIOLOGY wrote:
>>Jean,
>>>>A thread has come up on the plant-ed newslist about all of the
>>junk on an unmoderated list. ARe you on that list? =
>>>>How much time does it take for you to moderate BIOLAB? May I =
>>quote
>>you on that time in case someone is interested in taking on the =
>>chore
>>of moderating plnat-ed?
>>>I'm in the middle of a plants workshop for teachers, so back to
>>work....
>>>>Linda
>>>>>>>>>>
