Up till now, the level of spam was low. I had pen-l set so that anybody could post to us. We got only a handful of spams, and some activist outsiders were able to tell us things of interest. I had not made that feature public, but it did help to keep pen-l a bit more open. So now, we have the settings changed. Of course, somebody can, and this has already occurred, signed on just to spam. I do not wish to interrogate all applicants at this time. As a result, people can join pen-l under false pretenses, as Karl C. did a week or so ago. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]