Following is a message from Tim Pierce of Rootsweb where these Mail lists are hosted. "Closing" the list means that only persons subscribed to the list can post messages to it. This should cut down considerably on the SPAM that gets through the Rootsweb Filters. This option has always been available to each listowner but I did not choose to close our lists for a number of reasons - the most important of which is that I did not want to let these creeps who send out spam force us to deny the list to people who did not choose to subscribe. As the message below spells out, All lists have now been closed. What will this mean to you. Probably not much. If you are subscribed to the list, nothing will change except that you should see less SPAM. Non-subscribers can no longer post messages to the list. Thanks =========<snip>======================== Hi, listowners -- This announcement is to let you know that we've just finished "closing" all of the RootsWeb lists. This means that the list server will only let you post to a mailing list if you subscribe to it. I'm sorry that this had to be done so hastily, but we didn't really have any choice. The volume of spam that was being sent through our lists had reached a phenomenal level, and I was spending most of my time on that problem rather than improving the systems. Worse, some users had begun to send spam complaints to sites that were completely unrelated to RootsWeb, but could kill our network connection if they received too many complaints. Closing the lists to subscribers became a matter of self-preservation. However, in order to make it easier on you, we've changed things to make it a little more obvious when someone who isn't a subscriber posts to your list. The list server will add the words "{not a subscriber}" to the Subject heading of their message, like this: Subject: {not a subscriber} Ancestors of John BROWN? When this happens, you can use the "bounce" or "redirect" features of your e-mail program (if such things are available) to repost this message to your list, and it should be approved for everyone to see. Or you can write to the poster and invite them to subscribe. Important to remember: some folks will subscribe to a mailing list with one e-mail address, and then try to post with another e-mail address. They don't mean any harm by this. If you notice that someone keeps trying to post to the list from an address that isn't subscribed, and you *want* his posts to be approved, you can add his address to the "accept list." To do this, follow the "Customize Settings" link from the bottom of your listowner utility page, and then choose the option to "Edit the Accept File." If you have any other questions about managing a closed list, please feel free to subscribe to NEWBIE-LISTOWNER-L and ask away -- one of our more seasoned listowners will be glad to answer your questions. -- Regards, Tim Pierce RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative system obfuscator and hack-of-all-trades -- John E Cain; 4601 Concord Drive; Garland, TX 75042 http://www.rootsweb.com/~msamite/index.htm -----Amite County MS http://www.rootsweb.com/~jecain/index.htm ----Cain/Ware list and My Website.