Re: [OT] Re: [ADMIN] List mods

On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 01:01:40 -0500, Donald Hosford writes:
>I never thought the list process was so complex!  Thanks for
explaining.
>
>If the List Server is doing all that, with the smaller lists and all. 
What is
> that
>you do as a list sysop?  Do you have to read every email to stop the
spam, ect
>?
>
>Fasinated by computers...

If I had to read every message before you all saw it, this list would
have MUCH less traffic than it does, and there's no way I could run 5
main lists and a bunch of related lists.

So, what do I do anyway?  Well, for those who want to know, here it is:

First, I got the machine, network bandwidth, disk space, etc to run
the list.  Not to hard to do in this day and age, but an important
thing non-the-less.  Actually, I'm sort of the mailing list master for
the machine the list is run off of, so I sort of trade some of my time
setting up lists for other people for the space we all use to talk
about games.

Second, and probably the biggest thing, is that I regularly look
through the 10,000 or so bounce messages I get a week and unsubscribe
people from the lists.	People do NOT tend to remember to unsub when
they loose accounts.  Mailing those people generates bounce messages
which come to me, and every once in a while (weekly generally) I spend
an hour and unsub people who are bouncing email.

Third, I do maintain spam filters which are pretty darn good I think.
About the only spam that gets through is operator error type stuff.
The trouble is, some legit posts get caught in these filters, so I
need to forward them on to the list with approved headers so they can
actually be disted out.  Almost all of this is automated, but I still
have to say thumbs up or down on each caught message.  Takes a couple
of minutes a day generally.

Fourth, every once in a while I have to step in and try to reign in an
unruly discussion on a list, or tell people posting in MIME not to,
or some other list admin only type thing.  Not fun, but part of the
responsibility of running a list.  This list is truly amazing how
LITTLE I have to do that on, but not all lists are so great that way.

Last, I monitor the groups that discuss the mailing list package I use
(majordomo) for updates, bug fixes, new features, etc.	Happens very
rarely, but can take a day of messing with when it does happen.

There, thats a rough summary.  There may well be some things I've
forgotten or skipped over, but those are the main points.  Isn't it
amazing how much goes on behind the scene's sometimes?

-=- Matthew L. Seidl		email: seidl@cs.colorado.edu		
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