EAD subscribers:
With more than 700 subscribers to the EAD list and a growing number
of delivery errors reported back to the list monitor daily, we are
taking steps to eliminate bad subscription addresses from the EAD
subscribers list. For those of you that have had your email
address changed with little or no warning, you know what a problem
it can be when an old email address no longer works. For a mail
server, an unresolvable address usually generates an error message.
In the case of most mail servers today, delivery is attempted over
a period of days in case the target server is just temporarily down.
We have decided to monitor more closely the delivery errors reported
by the EAD list server. The list software already deletes a subscriber
automatically after 100 unsuccessful attempts to deliver a message,
or four days, whichever comes first. As you can imagine, 100
attempts to deliver a message, each generating an error message
back to the list monitor, can cause considerable trouble when
many subscribers have unresolvable addresses. Just as an example
of the potential severity of the problem, the EAD list software
generated 170 delivery error messages on March 8th alone due to
an unusually large number of down mail systems and unresolvable
addresses.
To alleviate this problem, we will begin routinely removing subscribers
from the EAD list if their mail addresses are unresolvable for more
than two days. For those of you that have addresses that change,
this will mean that your old subscription may disappear if your
server stops accepting delivery to your old address. This will
allow us to clean out truly abandoned subscriptions, but may also
affect people who want to stay subscribed from time to time.
Our change to the subscription policy for the EAD list should
mitigate this problem. Subscription approval is now automatic
and essentially immediate. If you find that you are not subscribed,
simply resubscribe. When someone's address is not resolvable, it
is not possible for us to send out a message (that is ever received)
to alert a subscriber that they are being dropped from the subscriber
list. Since mail lists of this type are somewhat passive (one
receives unsolicited messages), it may be hard to know if your
subscription is active or not. Generally speaking, if you don't
receive any EAD postings during a whole week, you may want to
subscribe again. If you are already subscribed, the software
will tell you so.
BE SURE TO SEND SUBSCRIPTION AND UNSUBSCRIPTION MESSAGE TO THE ADDRESS:
[log in to unmask]
NOT TO THE LIST ADDRESS ITSELF! If you know your email address is
going to change, unsubscribe from the old address *before* it
becomes inactive. This will prevent dozens of delivery error
messages from being sent to the list monitor's account, which
by the way, is *my* personal mail account!
Unfortunately, this message cannot be sent to the 24 subscribers
whom we had to delete from the EAD subscriber's list this morning.
Hopefully these subscribers, if still interested, will resubscribe
under a current address. For those who suffer from the pain of
unreliable mail servers, we recommend you pressure you main
system administrator to improve availability. List software of
this kind is very useful, but requires monitoring and preventative
maintenance for the common good. Our sincere apologies are offered
in advance, should you ever find yourself *deleted* unexpectedly.
You are always welcome back, even if we sometimes have trouble
getting mail to you.
Randy Barry (EAD list monitor)
*****************************************************************
* Randall Keigan Barry LL *
* Senior MARC Standards Specialist LLL *
* U.S. Library of Congress LLL *
* Network Development and MARC Standards Office LLL CCCCC *
* 101 Independence Avenue, S.E. LLL CCC CCC *
* Washington, DC 20540-4102 U.S.A. LLL CCC *
* TEL: +1-202-707-5118 LLLLLLLLLL *
* FAX: +1-202-707-0115 CCC CCC *
* NET: [log in to unmask] CCCCC *
*****************************************************************
* NOTE: The ideas and opinions expressed in this communication *
* are personal and do not necessarily reflect the position of *
* the Library of Congress or any other U.S. government agency. *
*****************************************************************
|