NHAIS-L/NHAIS-ILL moderation changes

Starting yesterday, messages sent to NHAIS-L and NHAIS-ILL from subscribed addresses are being posted to the lists without review. Messages from unsubscribed addresses continue to be held for review by a list administrator.

All new subscriptions still require confirmation from the subscriber and approval by the moderator. This is to make sure that only members of New Hampshire's library community are on the list, not spammers or vendors.

NHAIS Services began reviewing all messages to NHAIS-L and NHAIS-ILL many years ago after the lists had been shut down for several weeks because of viruses being spread through the lists. It's hard to believe these days but at the time several libraries were using the Internet without benefit of antivirus software.

With a smaller NHAIS Services staff following Charlie Le Blanc's retirement, we've been taking a look at how some of our chores can be handled more efficiently. And, importantly, it's been five years since we found an infected piece of mail sent to the lists. That's probably because everybody uses some sort of antivirus protection these days. If you don't, it's time you did--and make sure you update it regularly.

For subscribers, this change means there's be no more delay between the time messages are sent and when they're posted. It also means we aren't able to intercept erroneous messages on your behalf so please review your messages before you hit the send button.

Also check where your message is addressed to before sending it. NHAIS-ILL was created a decade ago because many NHAIS-L subscribers had nothing to do with interlibrary loan and wanted to bypass the many messages each day on this topic. Please respect the different audiences for the two lists by directing your message to the correct one. Requests for materials you couldn't borrow through NHU-PAC, ILL policy questions, queries about items lost in transit, or requests to receive or complete an ILL transaction belong on NHAIS-ILL. Anything else should go to NHAIS-L.

Also note that there is an upper limit to the size of messages as one user found recently when her message with 4 large photos attached was rejected by the maillist server.

Your NHAIS-L and NHAIS-ILL administrators,
Mary Russell
David Harris
271-2141