On 8/1/2012 9:34 AM, singhals wrote: > Ian, > > I'm curious about why you consider reading SPAM sent by > someone who isn't one of your subscribers to be part of your > admin job. > > It follows, I suppose, that the people sending those offers > to enlarge body parts one doesn't own expects people to read > the offer, but I don't see why anyone who has been on-line > more than a week expect anyone else to. > > Cheryl Cheryl: Regardless of how one goes about it, I think we can (or at least should) agree that how we manage our lists has three intended results: 1. We deal with legitimate problems our subscribers are having, in a reasonable amount of time. 2. We pass on to our lists messages that (in our individual opinions as admins) are valuable to our subscribers but for one reason or another did not reach the list directly. A 100% accuracy record is not required, in my opinion. 3. We do not pass on to our lists messages that are, or appear to be, malicious or inappropriate. There is a *LOT* of latitude in those 3 points. None of them requires actually "reading" the SPAM or other crud. There are ways of dealing with that stuff that can help us maintain what sanity we still have left. My way works for me; if yours works for you, then I am all for your way, for you. I do think it is possible for an admin to be so loathe to deal with the crud *at all* that he or she sets up a system (filters, for example) that causes them to miss -- meaning, never see or deal with -- messages that would *based on their own criteria* have been sent to the list if they *had* been seen (point 2). If you are comfortable that your method avoids too much of that, then I repeat: I am all for your way, for you. Darrell

Joan, The answer, to me, is obvious. Rather than not doing the job properly for all your lists, reduce the number of lists you admin so that you can do the job properly Regards, Ian MARR at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 11m above sea level This message can be considered to be in the public domain. The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/ Allansford Weather (10 min updates): http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/Weather/ Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. ----- Original Message ----- From: JYoung6180@aol.com To: ian_marr@bigpond.net.au ; listowners@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 9:54 AM Subject: Re: [LO] ADMIN NOTE: Ian- It was getting so that it would take me at the minimum 2 to 3 HOURS every day just to delete all the spam in pending requests. The setting to DISCARD is NOT discarding "anything that suits me" -- it is discarding 100% SPAM. There was NEVER a legit message there asking for help. I still get the accidental subscriber post that lands in pending requests for a variety of reasons and the moderated list member posts...those I'm more than happy to handle -- but the non-subscriber spam being DISCARDED is the setting I and many other admins CHOOSE (as long as we are not moderating the gateways) AND if RootsWeb had any qualms with admins setting non-subscriber posts to DISCARD they wouldn't have created this option specifically so we CAN have the spam discarded. That is why this option was created! I can do my "job" as admin MUCH better if I have that extra 2-3 hours a day to help people and tend to actual list functions than if I were to devote that time to deleting spam from more than 100 list pending requests. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 7:35:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ian_marr@bigpond.net.au writes: Joan, I've sat back for a while while you laud the concept of just "discarding" anything that doesn't suit you, and can't help wondering why you are a list administrator at all. I admin many lists which vary from very slow to relatively busy. There are many aspects to being an admin, and I try to do each justice. Welcoming new members, being sure I respond quickly to queries, publishing a list etiquette fact sheet, monitoring the messages, processing incorrectly addressed messages, dealing with the "pending" list and anything else that may come along. I regard each of these as an integral part of the job. They say any job worth doing is worth doing well. I just can't see how this is achieved if any of us decide we won't do certain aspects because it doesn't suit us. Regards, Ian MARR

Very well said! Also, a big thank you to Pig for handling this forum the way she does. She allows the "child" in us (me) to show itself and knows just when to reign us in and set us straight. Jim -----Original Message----- From: listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Nelda Percival Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 2:49 AM To: listowners@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LO] LISTOWNERs List hip hip hooray! "Maybe we could all agree that each List Admin should be thanked for giving their time and efforts to their lists, to the best of their abilities, for the time they are able to devote to this wonderful project." (extracted from a different email) Well said! nelda ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LISTOWNERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Joan, I think you have hit it square on. My understanding is that there are far too few paid workers (as in many other industries these days) and so no one has the time to devote to "non critical" issues. The critical ones seem to have to be categorized by degree of necessity. We just live with the way things are and find enjoyment in it as we can. And I do find a great deal of enjoyment in my Rootsweb involvement. I am passionate about my Rootsweb involvement and sometimes it shows when I should just keep quiet. Jim From: JYoung6180@aol.com [mailto:JYoung6180@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 1:04 AM To: popsjackson@charter.net; ian_marr@bigpond.net.au; Listowners@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LO] Pending Lists & Discard As far as I know the filters never did train themselves. Tweaks to the filters were done manually back in the old days by list staff. I'm not sure that is being done any longer since there are so few staff working on lists. I've not seen any evidence of filters "learning" to exclude spam by content or subject when we report it. I'm not saying NOT to report it if you want to...but I certainly am not going to change my spam settings for non-subscriber mail just so that I can view and report it when otherwise I don't have to see it at all. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 10:39:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, popsjackson@charter.net writes: This is a valid question, but I am not sure there is a good answer. It seems that the filters are very slow to learn as I have seen the same messages repeatedly when I had mine set for "Hold" and despaired of ever seeing any progress. The other problem I have seen is that, even if the filters are learning by way of our selecting "This is spam" the spammers are constantly sending new messages which require the filters to be constantly re-trained. It is similar to the problem of virus-laden emails. Even as our various anti-virus programs are learning the new viruses that are out there, the creators are constantly coming up with new strains so the process gets more and more complicated. We just all do the best we can with the time and resources we have available to us. Jim

Joan, I've sat back for a while while you laud the concept of just "discarding" anything that doesn't suit you, and can't help wondering why you are a list administrator at all. I admin many lists which vary from very slow to relatively busy. There are many aspects to being an admin, and I try to do each justice. Welcoming new members, being sure I respond quickly to queries, publishing a list etiquette fact sheet, monitoring the messages, processing incorrectly addressed messages, dealing with the "pending" list and anything else that may come along. I regard each of these as an integral part of the job. They say any job worth doing is worth doing well. I just can't see how this is achieved if any of us decide we won't do certain aspects because it doesn't suit us. Regards, Ian MARR at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 11m above sea level This message can be considered to be in the public domain. The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/ Allansford Weather (10 min updates): http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/Weather/ Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. ----- Original Message ----- From: <JYoung6180@aol.com> To: <pleblan@aim.com>; <listpig@earthlink.net>; <listowners@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 8:38 AM Subject: Re: [LO] ADMIN NOTE: >I never saw anyone say they didn't want to "work" or respond to legitimate > admin messages --- only that they were sick of receiving SPAM at their > admin addresses. Pending requests are another matter entirely. No one > should > be writing TO the request address with anything other than commands to > subscribe or unsubscribe...it isn't a place for communicating with the > admin. > That is one reason I have those emails discarded. > > Joan > > > In a message dated 7/31/2012 6:32:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > pleblan@aim.com writes: > > Pig > Yes Thank you I went right back on. It was a general question because the > discussion had got to the point where people did not want to work pending > or -Admin messages. > unfortunately I could not resubscribe to about 20 other lists. > I have as today got back to all of them except one. > Paul > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LISTOWNERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Folks: Time to stop snarking. I am deleting from my folder the mail that has come thus far on the subject as I head out to work. When I get home tonight, I'm going to start moderating anyone who's made NEW posts of the "My way is the only way and you are flat out WRONG" sort. That includes anyone of the "but I was just answering what so-and-so started" variety. --pig, admin

Just another reminder that those of you who run Linux or bsd/Mac can easily use the command-line application "listadmin" for all your Rootsweb lists, and any other Mailman lists on another server you might also administer. It takes less than a minute to deal with spam (hit return for each one you wish to discard) even for lists with lots of it. And it goes automatically to the next list until you are done. I just need to use the webform for people to whom I want to respond to directly, such as those whose posts I'm rejecting for one reason or another. So much faster with all the spam discarded already. For more information, see my blog post about it: http://linuxgrandma.blogspot.com/2011/09/are-you-listowner-try-listadmin-cli.html Valorie On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 5:10 PM, <JYoung6180@aol.com> wrote: > If I were to admin one or two lists...I'd still set my option to DISCARD > non-subscriber SPAM. If RootsWeb didn't want me doing that the option > wouldn't BE there. ::massive snip::

hip hip hooray! "Maybe we could all agree that each List Admin should be thanked for giving their time and efforts to their lists, to the best of their abilities, for the time they are able to devote to this wonderful project." (extracted from a different email) Well said! nelda

As far as I know the filters never did train themselves. Tweaks to the filters were done manually back in the old days by list staff. I'm not sure that is being done any longer since there are so few staff working on lists. I've not seen any evidence of filters "learning" to exclude spam by content or subject when we report it. I'm not saying NOT to report it if you want to...but I certainly am not going to change my spam settings for non-subscriber mail just so that I can view and report it when otherwise I don't have to see it at all. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 10:39:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, popsjackson@charter.net writes: This is a valid question, but I am not sure there is a good answer. It seems that the filters are very slow to learn as I have seen the same messages repeatedly when I had mine set for "Hold" and despaired of ever seeing any progress. The other problem I have seen is that, even if the filters are learning by way of our selecting "This is spam" the spammers are constantly sending new messages which require the filters to be constantly re-trained. It is similar to the problem of virus-laden emails. Even as our various anti-virus programs are learning the new viruses that are out there, the creators are constantly coming up with new strains so the process gets more and more complicated. We just all do the best we can with the time and resources we have available to us. Jim

You are certainly free to have a different opinion, but please do not tell me to keep my opinion to myself. Diana > From: Jim Jackson > Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 2:43 PM > > I think we have no business attempting to impose our > own standards upon other folks. You do not know > anything about others' situations, their number of > adminned lists, the frequency of postings on their > lists etc. If you are happy with the way you run > your business that's fine but please do not tell me > it is also the way I should run mine. Some opinions > are better kept to ourselves. > > Jim > > > > From: Diana Gale Matthiesen > > Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 1:39 PM > > > > If an admin is going to be "out of service" for more > > than a day, they need to take on a co-admin to manage > > the list. Or come here to this list and ask someone > > to admin temporarily while they're gone. If they're > > chronically too busy to come online and check their > > email every day, they need to give up their list(s) > > because they're just not "listadmin material." > > > > IMO, of course. > > > > Diana

This is a valid question, but I am not sure there is a good answer. It seems that the filters are very slow to learn as I have seen the same messages repeatedly when I had mine set for "Hold" and despaired of ever seeing any progress. The other problem I have seen is that, even if the filters are learning by way of our selecting "This is spam" the spammers are constantly sending new messages which require the filters to be constantly re-trained. It is similar to the problem of virus-laden emails. Even as our various anti-virus programs are learning the new viruses that are out there, the creators are constantly coming up with new strains so the process gets more and more complicated. We just all do the best we can with the time and resources we have available to us. Jim -----Original Message----- From: listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ian Marr Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 10:20 PM To: ZListowners LO Subject: [LO] Pending Lists & Discard My last comment on the subject (since a very small minority are getting very nasty in private mails). If everyone used the discard option, how would we ever get the spam filters trained so that the volume can be reduced even before it hits our pending? Regards, Ian MARR at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 11m above sea level This message can be considered to be in the public domain. The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/ Allansford Weather (10 min updates): http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/Weather/ Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LISTOWNERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Good Evening All, While I'm all for an interesting and informative debate, I'm starting to feel that the current thread about List Admin responsibilities has taken a someone uncomfortable, and at times personal, turn. My personal feeling is, it would be better if we could all "take a pause for the cause", and agree to end this thread, before it creates uncivil discourse in our little community? My father, a man who I generally had nothing in common with in his life, had one saying which we both had to agree on."It'd be a funny world if we all liked the same thing." Maybe we could all agree that each List Admin should be thanked for giving their time and efforts to their lists, to the best of their abilities, for the time they are able to devote to this wonderful project. Just my .02 cents. -David Reed List Administrator: MAINE, NEW-ENG-GEN, MELINCOL (Maine, Lincoln County), ME-IRISH, CEMETERIES-HISTORIC-PRESERVATION, MARIN --------------------------------------------- "Actually, there is only one 'first question' of government, and it is "How should we live?" or "What kind of people do we want our citizens to be?" - George F. Will (1941-), American political commentator P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

Ian, Your comments are totally inappropriate and downright rude. Joan is one of the most knowledgeable and capable members of this group. You owe her an apology. Jim -----Original Message----- From: listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:listowners-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Ian Marr Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 8:03 PM To: listowners@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LO] ADMIN NOTE: Joan, The answer, to me, is obvious. Rather than not doing the job properly for all your lists, reduce the number of lists you admin so that you can do the job properly Regards, Ian MARR at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 11m above sea level This message can be considered to be in the public domain. The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/ Allansford Weather (10 min updates): http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/Weather/ Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. ----- Original Message ----- From: JYoung6180@aol.com To: ian_marr@bigpond.net.au ; listowners@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 9:54 AM Subject: Re: [LO] ADMIN NOTE: Ian- It was getting so that it would take me at the minimum 2 to 3 HOURS every day just to delete all the spam in pending requests. The setting to DISCARD is NOT discarding "anything that suits me" -- it is discarding 100% SPAM. There was NEVER a legit message there asking for help. I still get the accidental subscriber post that lands in pending requests for a variety of reasons and the moderated list member posts...those I'm more than happy to handle -- but the non-subscriber spam being DISCARDED is the setting I and many other admins CHOOSE (as long as we are not moderating the gateways) AND if RootsWeb had any qualms with admins setting non-subscriber posts to DISCARD they wouldn't have created this option specifically so we CAN have the spam discarded. That is why this option was created! I can do my "job" as admin MUCH better if I have that extra 2-3 hours a day to help people and tend to actual list functions than if I were to devote that time to deleting spam from more than 100 list pending requests. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 7:35:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ian_marr@bigpond.net.au writes: Joan, I've sat back for a while while you laud the concept of just "discarding" anything that doesn't suit you, and can't help wondering why you are a list administrator at all. I admin many lists which vary from very slow to relatively busy. There are many aspects to being an admin, and I try to do each justice. Welcoming new members, being sure I respond quickly to queries, publishing a list etiquette fact sheet, monitoring the messages, processing incorrectly addressed messages, dealing with the "pending" list and anything else that may come along. I regard each of these as an integral part of the job. They say any job worth doing is worth doing well. I just can't see how this is achieved if any of us decide we won't do certain aspects because it doesn't suit us. Regards, Ian MARR ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LISTOWNERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

David, I can only go by the message you sent when you say Pig got it all wrong. It's a bit late now to say, "oh, yeah, but there were these other messages too". Based on the message from you that was quoted by both Pig & myself, she in fact has got it EXACTLY right. And, as far as actions required for pending messages is concerned, if it says "discard" then you or someone else has specifically set it that way. Regards, Ian MARR at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 11m above sea level This message can be considered to be in the public domain. The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/ Allansford Weather (10 min updates): http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/Weather/ Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. ----- Original Message ----- From: "W David Samuelsen" <dsam52@sampubco.com> To: <listowners@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 8:17 PM Subject: Re: [LO] ADMIN NOTE: > Heck NO. She got it wrong! > > These are the following messages she did NOT bother to read. So what > part of it she does NOT understand? > > === Begin messages === > > On 7/30/2012 11:19 AM, W David Samuelsen wrote (in reply to Joan):> All > lists I have were not adopted from another admin, every one is original > to me, more than half of them since 1996, well before the migration from > the Maiser crash. > > David S. > > On 7/30/2012 12:00 AM, W David Samuelsen wrote:> > Know what? I didn't set them to "Discard" in first place and I didn't > reset them. I didn't even know they existed until you (meaning Joan) > mentioned it. > > Is "Discard" default setting? > > David > > === end messages === > > On 7/31/2012 1:32 AM, Ian Marr wrote: >> David, >> >> I think you have a basic misunderstanding, and what Pig says is accurate. >> >>>>>> I checked and every list I admin is already set to "Discard" >>>>>> >>>>>> and I still get those annoying requests to -admin addresses >>>>>> >> >> The "Discard" option relates to pending mail. It has nothing to do with >> "admin" mail. So, what you describe above is EXACTLY what you should be >> expecting. >> >> Regards, >> Ian MARR > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LISTOWNERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Darrell- You have hit the nail on the head...it's a CHOICE and it is a choice made based upon your personal experience with YOUR lists and your choice regarding the gateway. It's all good...there is no right or wrong...RootsWeb supports us whichever choice we make as long as we ARE tending to our lists. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 8:48:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, darrellm@sprynet.com writes: Greetings: The fly in the ointment of the auto-discard option is this; on my lists, I was getting more crud that actually got posted to the list through the gateway than by any other route. And yet, I got -- and still get -- a fair amount of non-subscriber but "real" messages posted to the boards as well. So, for me, for my lists, in order to serve my subscribers well I have to moderate the boards gateways (it really isn't moderating, of course) AND actually process my pending requests, in a timely manner. As a result the auto-discard option is, to put it bluntly, not an option I can even consider. This is **not** a complaint. Nor is it a campaign for others to "moderate" their own board gateways. How I do it works for me, and it may not for you. But perhaps it will provide some insight into why some of us "don't just change our settings" even though we are aggravated by all the -admin address crud. Darrell

Joan, You are entirely correct. I have two lists that get about 6 or 8 messages per year. However, they get many hundreds of spam messages per year. It is a waste of my time to have to manually delete those hundreds of Non-Subscriber spam messages each day. I have those two lists set to discard Non-Subscriber spam. Not a single Good message has been discarded in several years now. All the Good messages get through immediately or are made available in Pending Requests. This option works very well for my lists, which are all properly attended to. Allen At 08:10 PM 07/31/12, you wrote: >If I were to admin one or two lists...I'd still set my option to DISCARD >non-subscriber SPAM. If RootsWeb didn't want me doing that the option >wouldn't BE there. > >I guess my definition of PROPER and yours is not the same. > >Joan > > >In a message dated 7/31/2012 8:07:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, >ian_marr@bigpond.net.au writes: > >Joan, > >The answer, to me, is obvious. > >Rather than not doing the job properly for all your lists, reduce the >number of lists you admin so that you can do the job properly > >Regards, >Ian MARR >at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 11m above sea level > >This message can be considered to be in the public domain. > >The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/ >Allansford Weather (10 min updates): >http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/Weather/ >Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. >----- Original Message ----- >From: JYoung6180@aol.com >To: ian_marr@bigpond.net.au ; listowners@rootsweb.com >Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 9:54 AM >Subject: Re: [LO] ADMIN NOTE: > > >Ian- > >It was getting so that it would take me at the minimum 2 to 3 HOURS every >day just to delete all the spam in pending requests. The setting to DISCARD >is NOT discarding "anything that suits me" -- it is discarding 100% SPAM. >There was NEVER a legit message there asking for help. I still get the >accidental subscriber post that lands in pending requests for a variety of >reasons and the moderated list member posts...those I'm more than happy to >handle -- but the non-subscriber spam being DISCARDED is the setting I and >many other admins CHOOSE (as long as we are not moderating the gateways) AND >if RootsWeb had any qualms with admins setting non-subscriber posts to >DISCARD they wouldn't have created this >option specifically so we CAN have the >spam discarded. That is why this option was created! > >I can do my "job" as admin MUCH better if I have that extra 2-3 hours a >day to help people and tend to actual list >functions than if I were to devote >that time to deleting spam from more than 100 list pending requests. > >Joan > >In a message dated 7/31/2012 7:35:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, >ian_marr@bigpond.net.au writes: >Joan, > >I've sat back for a while while you laud the concept of just "discarding" >anything that doesn't suit you, and can't help wondering why you are a >list >administrator at all. > >I admin many lists which vary from very slow to relatively busy. There >are >many aspects to being an admin, and I try to do each justice. Welcoming >new >members, being sure I respond quickly to queries, publishing a list >etiquette fact sheet, monitoring the messages, processing incorrectly >addressed messages, dealing with the "pending" list and anything else that >may come along. I regard each of these as an integral part of the job. > >They say any job worth doing is worth doing well. I just can't see how >this >is achieved if any of us decide we won't do certain aspects because it >doesn't suit us. > >Regards, >Ian MARR ---------- Allen Dew 919-471-3548

If I were to admin one or two lists...I'd still set my option to DISCARD non-subscriber SPAM. If RootsWeb didn't want me doing that the option wouldn't BE there. I guess my definition of PROPER and yours is not the same. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 8:07:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ian_marr@bigpond.net.au writes: Joan, The answer, to me, is obvious. Rather than not doing the job properly for all your lists, reduce the number of lists you admin so that you can do the job properly Regards, Ian MARR at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 11m above sea level This message can be considered to be in the public domain. The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/ Allansford Weather (10 min updates): http://home.vicnet.net.au/~marr/Weather/ Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. ----- Original Message ----- From: JYoung6180@aol.com To: ian_marr@bigpond.net.au ; listowners@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 9:54 AM Subject: Re: [LO] ADMIN NOTE: Ian- It was getting so that it would take me at the minimum 2 to 3 HOURS every day just to delete all the spam in pending requests. The setting to DISCARD is NOT discarding "anything that suits me" -- it is discarding 100% SPAM. There was NEVER a legit message there asking for help. I still get the accidental subscriber post that lands in pending requests for a variety of reasons and the moderated list member posts...those I'm more than happy to handle -- but the non-subscriber spam being DISCARDED is the setting I and many other admins CHOOSE (as long as we are not moderating the gateways) AND if RootsWeb had any qualms with admins setting non-subscriber posts to DISCARD they wouldn't have created this option specifically so we CAN have the spam discarded. That is why this option was created! I can do my "job" as admin MUCH better if I have that extra 2-3 hours a day to help people and tend to actual list functions than if I were to devote that time to deleting spam from more than 100 list pending requests. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 7:35:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ian_marr@bigpond.net.au writes: Joan, I've sat back for a while while you laud the concept of just "discarding" anything that doesn't suit you, and can't help wondering why you are a list administrator at all. I admin many lists which vary from very slow to relatively busy. There are many aspects to being an admin, and I try to do each justice. Welcoming new members, being sure I respond quickly to queries, publishing a list etiquette fact sheet, monitoring the messages, processing incorrectly addressed messages, dealing with the "pending" list and anything else that may come along. I regard each of these as an integral part of the job. They say any job worth doing is worth doing well. I just can't see how this is achieved if any of us decide we won't do certain aspects because it doesn't suit us. Regards, Ian MARR ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LISTOWNERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Ian- It was getting so that it would take me at the minimum 2 to 3 HOURS every day just to delete all the spam in pending requests. The setting to DISCARD is NOT discarding "anything that suits me" -- it is discarding 100% SPAM. There was NEVER a legit message there asking for help. I still get the accidental subscriber post that lands in pending requests for a variety of reasons and the moderated list member posts...those I'm more than happy to handle -- but the non-subscriber spam being DISCARDED is the setting I and many other admins CHOOSE (as long as we are not moderating the gateways) AND if RootsWeb had any qualms with admins setting non-subscriber posts to DISCARD they wouldn't have created this option specifically so we CAN have the spam discarded. That is why this option was created! I can do my "job" as admin MUCH better if I have that extra 2-3 hours a day to help people and tend to actual list functions than if I were to devote that time to deleting spam from more than 100 list pending requests. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 7:35:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ian_marr@bigpond.net.au writes: Joan, I've sat back for a while while you laud the concept of just "discarding" anything that doesn't suit you, and can't help wondering why you are a list administrator at all. I admin many lists which vary from very slow to relatively busy. There are many aspects to being an admin, and I try to do each justice. Welcoming new members, being sure I respond quickly to queries, publishing a list etiquette fact sheet, monitoring the messages, processing incorrectly addressed messages, dealing with the "pending" list and anything else that may come along. I regard each of these as an integral part of the job. They say any job worth doing is worth doing well. I just can't see how this is achieved if any of us decide we won't do certain aspects because it doesn't suit us. Regards, Ian MARR

They have to resubscribe themselves. BUT...they do get a list from listmaster of all the lists they were removed from...so that helps. Joan In a message dated 7/31/2012 7:35:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, cchcap@comcast.net writes: This raises a question I have intended to ask. Has RW/Ancestry figured out a way to re-sub those aol e-addresses it unsubs because of spam reporting? I ask this because for the last month or more, when an AOL-using listmember posts to me asking why they were unsubbed and/or wanting me to re-sub them, and I attempt to do so, they are already back on the list. If this only happened a couple of times, I would assume that they remembered how to re-sub themselves, but it seems to be pretty consistent. Any ideas? Carol

The following Lists and Boards are now up for adoption. All boards have been quiet so it shouldn't be to much for the person taking over to handle. Mailing lists FLAKE MAUZEY PRING Boards - Flake - - Hollers - - Mauzey - - Web