"So if you posted a message, you could check in the evening if it got out or not. If you are not sure if you are receiving all the messages, you could maintain a simlar file yourself, and at the end of day compare your notes with what is received from the list." This could be spoofed by an intermediate delivery agent also ... Generally, in netnews, I regard mail back from individuals or test sites which honor posts to *.test newsgroups as adequate confirmation. These, too, could be spoofed, I suppose, but that's a degree of duplicity that is so complicated to maintain for an indefinite period of time that it is unlikely to ever be put into practice, IMHO, since it's bound to fail in the long term, and would probably result in a backlash of disfavor towards organizations practicing, supporting or funding such behavior. Perhaps an equivalent service could be implemented where some people's systems make a point of sending mail directly to posters to verify that their posting was posted. Bitnet's LISTSERV software does this, which is very convenient when one is managing a listserver entirely by email from a few thousand miles away. Other mail servers - Home Brew Digest comes to mind - do the same thing ... Grist for the collective mill. -- richard