I contacted mailbase to ask if there was anything that could be done to
prevent a recurrence of the mail loop that hit the list yesterday.
"Hello,
Mailbase does have software in place to track and stop such problems.
We check the subject lines of messages sent to lists and reject any which
appear to be from a vacation mailer, but the messages sent to your list
did not match any of the strings we check for.
We also look at the message_IDs and use something called checksum to try
and stop duplicate messages, but this is only successful with slightly
longer messages. (Comparing incoming mail character-by-character would
not be possible.)
We also monitor the flow of messages to the list and if the number of
incoming messages goes over a certain threshold mail to that list is
halted until a person can investigate.
This is what happened to your list. We will clear any pending messages
from the queue, delete duplicates from the archives and restart the mail
to your list.
I am sorry for any distress this may have caused."
Mailbase host the list for no fee and sometimes even their system breaks
down.
I would be very surprised if this happened again.
Regards
Richard Young
31 Newland Mill
Witney OX8 6HH
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