Posting to the XyWrite Mail List: New Policy

[cld@xxxxxxxx (Carl Distefano)]

Notice to all XyWriters:

In order to post a message to the XyWrite Mail List, it is now
necessary to be a subscriber. Messages from non-subscribers will be
rejected.

The benefits of a wide-open list have to be weighed against the
costs. Unfortunately, the incidence of viral posts originating
outside the list is on the rise; there have been three in the last
two weeks alone. Every time the U.Pa. list processor distributes a
viral message, it's showered with rejection notices, warnings, error
messages, etc., from list subscribers' mail servers. Most servers
note that a virus has been detected, and bounce the message.
Sometimes the server's anti-virus software attempts to purge the
virus, and reports the success or failure of this attempt back to
the listproc, further taxing resources at both ends. The waste of
U.Pa. bandwidth alone is significant. But when you add in the
overhead to subscribers' mail systems -- not to mention the burden
on my personal ISP when all of these error messages are forwarded to
me as list owner -- it becomes lunacy. (Then, of course, there are
the risks posed by the viruses themselves.)

In its practical consequences, the change of policy is slight. In
the past, virtually every post to the XyWrite list has come from a
subscriber; queries from non-subscribers are extremely rare. Anyone
can still subscribe. There's no "admission test", no gatekeeper;
this is not a moderated list. None of that has changed.

The list can be reopened to non-subscribers at any time, should
conditions improve. But, for the foreseeable future, this defensive
measure seems warranted. I'm not happy about it, but, on balance, I
think it's the responsible thing to do.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx
http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/