LIST-UPDATE-L Archives

Archiver > LIST-UPDATE > 2006-09 > 1158758576


From: Claire Keenan Agthe <>
Subject: Re: [LIST-UPDATE] Duplicates
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:31:41 -0400
References: <mailman.793.1158736562.16211.list-update@rootsweb.com>
In-Reply-To: <mailman.793.1158736562.16211.list-update@rootsweb.com>


One example of "duplicate" messages has now been posted twice. The
first message was Joan's answer to a question, the second was Joan's
message inline, from another poster. It seems pretty clear to me that
the second poster was replying to the thread, and either sent the
message before adding his/her comment, or his/her comment was stripped
(a known problem with certain ISPs and the new RW software). So this
sample "duplicate" isn't a duplicate message at all.

I have, however, received duplicate messages since the changeover of the
lists, but not in the volume a prior poster reported (so I have just
been ignoring them, hoping the issue will clear up when all the bugs are
worked out of the new system). I will see a message and a response, read
them and delete them, and maybe an hour later receive the same two
messages again. No, I am not subscribed twice to any list, and it
happens on lists I receive in list mode (I don't have many I receive in
digest mode, so don't know if it's happened there). Two explanations I
can think of are: 1) the server is not deleting the posts after sending
them on and they remain in the queue for re-delivery (but then I would
think ALL messages on the list would be delivered again, not just
sporadic ones), or 2) maybe one set of messages is addressed to
LISTNAME and the other to LISTNAME-L (I haven't paid attention to that
detail yet).

I do know that some messages are coming "without -L" and some "with -L"
-- and that RW is allowing both listnames during the transition --
because it messed up my filters (that sort messages into list-specific
folders) until I realized what was going on and changed my filters to
catch both permutations. But maybe some posters are sending to BOTH
"without -L" and "with -L" (thinking they're hedging their bets, or
misunderstanding a list admin's note that posters can use either address
and thinking it means they should use both) and so these posters are
sending two copies of the message through? I'll try to pay attention to
my next few duplicates and see if that hypothesis holds up. Is it
possible that it's a server problem -- does the server add the "no -L"
name when it receives a "-L" post (thereby creating duplicates instead
of overriding the -L address), maybe?

If it were an email client / ISP issue, I'd think the people having the
problem would have it on all their messages, not just on some. Unless
it's an email client/ISP issue related to the numerous addys (in the To,
Reply To, etc. fields), some of which are "with -L," some "without -L"?
As the "posters sending duplicate posts" hypothesis is the easiest to
check, I'll volunteer to keep my eye out for that one. ;-)

Claire

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