Mailing List Fixed

[Center for Public Environmental Oversight <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Dear subscribers,

Alllllrightttttyyyy . . .. After a flurry of messages between CPEO and our
internet service provider, IGC, they have fixed the problem that caused
the unfortunate slew of junkmail over the weekend.

For those who are interested, here's what happened: IGC apparently disabled
the "moderator" function of the mailing list. This function normally forces
all incoming messages to go to CPEO before they go out to everyone on the
mailing list. We then screen the messages to weed out junk, and send
the postings on for broadcast to the full list.

When this "moderator" function was disabled, the system got stuck in a
continuous "send-reply-send-reply" cycle with two subscriber's email accounts
that were set to automatically reply. Adding to the problem, IGC had also
changed the list password without notifying us, which made it impossible
for us to stop the problem ourselves.

If you should ever experience problems in the future, it is always best to
contact us directly. While we understand your frustration, sending email to
a list that has run out of control only fuels the fire. (If it helps with
morale, well over 200 messages accumulated in our inbox over the weekend.)
For reference, our contact information is provided below.

According to IGC, the list has been fixed and is again working normally. We
apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.

-The (also frustrated) CPEO Staff

Contact info:

Email: cpeo@cpeo.org
Phone: 415-904-7751
Fax: 415-904-7765