Background: I posted about a problem I had had to deal with without the
facilities that many of you have at your disposal. Tom Neff then posted a
follow-up that offered a solution I could not have used. When I responded
that yes, others can do that, but I had to settle for a less efficient ap-
proach, he rejoined,
| ... the serialized-From technique has potential value to [many]
| listmanagers ...
Yes, no question. It has potential value to all who can use it. It
certainly beats the heck out of what I had to do.
| List-Managers is for the benefit of all members, not
| a private chatline, so I hope others get a chance to use the trick.
I hope so too, but by the same token that "all members" includes those whose
situations are unlike mine, it also includes those whose situations are like
mine.
| I should emphasize (if it's not already obvious) that the From: addresses,
| machine and domain you use for the serialized probe need have nothing to do
| with the machine or domain that the mailing list itself emanates from.
Yes, the From: address and the From_ address can differ from the true send-
ing point and from one another. It was the From_ address that mattered that
time, and that is not as easy to set for a non-admin as the From: address.
While at the time I knew how to rig the local part of the From_ address, I
did not yet know a reliable way to point From_ to a remote address (I do
now). Had I known, there would have been nine available return addresses
instead of seven and not 1422 probe letters but at most 1374. (The other
providers where I had email addresses don't support plus-suffixing either.)
| So you don't have to have full mail control over that (possibly commercial
| or centrally managed) host. Just your own little node, real or virtual.
But you do need to come up with as many distinct addresses as there are
subscribers to whom you need to send the probe message, and they have to be
such that mail to them will reach you. If you have your own domain, whether
real or virtual, you can do that. If you have suffixed addressing available,
you can do that.
If you have neither available but you run a mailing list anyway, you still
have a right to be on list-managers.
| > Operative word: "if". Write it, as Lulu sang, across the sky with letters
| > that would sore a thousand feet high. ...
|
| We all have our soar points...
Oops ... sorry for the typo, and clever way to point it out, Mr. Neff.
