Admin message: unsubscribed users

[Rick Jansen]

There are various ways in which mail cannot be delivered.
A mail server may be temporarily down, or unreachable.
In that case the sendmail system usually tries to deliver
a message for 4 more days before finally giving up. An
example of this situation:

  churchst at mail.ptd.net... Deferred: Connection timed out with mail.ptd.net

On the other hand, if a mail server tells me a user does not exist
at all, like with jbv's mailbox:

  550 jbv.silences at wanadoo.fr... User unknown

what else can I decide than unsub to prevent more messages 
bouncing? 

In general I only unsub an address that bounces more than
a few messages. Hotmail addresses I'm very lenient with,
hotmail often bounces 10, 20 mails at a time. If I'd unsub
hotmail addresses every time they bounce... 

I find Scott's suggestion a very good one, simply send a 
subscribe message if you're worried you're not subscribed any
more. synth-diy is never quiet, there is traffic *every* day.
If you have missed messages please don't worry, you can always
fetch the archive (via mail).

Please, further discussion to me directly?

Rick Jansen


Scott Gravenhorst wrote:
> 
> Whenever I think that the list is down or I have been
> unsubbed, I will send a subscribe message to the list
> server.  If I have become unsubscribed, which has
> happened when my ISP has problems, the sub message puts
> me back and tells me.  If I was already subbed, it still
> sends a message telling me that.  If the list is down,
> I'll know that too because no message comes back.
> Sometimes the list is just quiet for a couple of days.
> If I'm worried about it, I just send the sub message and
> I get a "you're already subbed" response.  These list servers
> are manned by very kind and generous volunteers, so I
> don't expect the service level of something I pay for.
> 
> JMO.
> 
> jbv <jbv.silences at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
> >Rick,
> >
> >> Um, if your mail box doesn't work, and you get unsubscribed
> >> you don't get a notice either :-)
> >>
> >> Here's the bounce message for your mailbox:
> >>
> >>    550 jbv.silences at wanadoo.fr... User unknown
> >
> >Agreed, but I kept receiving 30 to 50 emails a day, including
> >posts from other lists.
> >Furthermore, as the list was down a couple of weeks ago, it
> >was hard to know if I had been unsub or if it was down again...
> >
> >I don't know if that's possible, but it could be a good idea,
> >when a message bounces, to give it another try...
> >For instance, AFAIK, when one of my messages is
> >undeliverable, I get notified and the mail server keeps
> >trying for the next 72 hrs...

-- 
Web: http://www.euronet.nl/~rja/
email: rja at euronet.nl