Perhaps the following will help some of you avoid losing incoming messages.
Robbin Murphy has written:
 
>
> I don't seem to be getting Museum-L anymore, while other's do. Have
> I been dropped? Is this a punishment? What have I done? I'm sorry.
>
 
It's possible acfcluster.nyu.edu was disconnected from the outside world last
weekend.  (I suspect this because I could not get email through to this very
machine for several days.)  This could result in listserv subscribers being
dropped from their listservs.
 
If you suspect you may no longer be receiving messages from any listserv,
send the following command in the body of a message to that listserv's
_subscription_ address_ (e.g. [log in to unmask]), not the address to
which you normally send messages:
 
     CONFIRM listname         for example:  CONFIRM museum-l
 
Substitute for "listname" the name of the appropriate listserv, as shown.
The listserv will reply confirming your subscription if you are still listed.
 
BEWARE:
I was once dropped by VRA-L when my local gateway closed down for several
hours without redirecting incoming messages for temporary storage.
When messages from the listserv couldn't find my address, they bounced back
and the listserv dropped my subscription.  I lost all listserv messages sent
to me during the interruption  )-;     Some listservs do that.
I've been told that others save the message and try to send it again later.
 
Lessons:  If your site loses contact with the outside world (and you know
about it--a good reason to read those daily messages that your system
administrators post), immediately confirm your listserv subscriptions.  You
will thus minimize any loss of messages.  If your site _plans_ to interrupt its
connections to the outside world (e.g. for hardware upgrade), and you read
the admin's messages and know about it in advance, lobby hard for a spooler
(or something) to be installed temporarily to save messages.  Alternately,
ask a fellow subscriber at another site to save the messages for you.
 
Bill Broom  [log in to unmask]
Department of Art and Art History
Duke University