Preventing non-members from posting to a mailing list is a good first step but it's not 100 percent secure from unwanted mail or malicious attacks. It's still possible for an individual to obtain a forwarding e-mail account to subscribe to a mail list. Once subscribed, the individual can set the forwarding e-mail account to point back to the mail list. As you can imagine every pice of mail, from that point on, sent out and received by the forwarding account will be forwarded back to the mail list. The mail list, in turn, sends the message(s) back out again and an infinite loop occurs. The more mail that is sent out, the more mail is forwarded back to the mail list, to the point where it brings the mail system to a crawl, if it doesn't crash it from overload. The internet is like living in the USA today, where people must decide which they want more, freedom or security. The more of one you have, the less of the other you will have. I'm sure better passive security means on the internet will develop as the internet matures but for right now, it's all wide open and anything goes. Sorry for the OT and I'm off my soapbox and back to the lurk mode. :-) Happy hunting! Jeff