There MUST be some way that the LISTSERV software can be modified so that a user can send an unsubscribe message to the -request line for another user.

Take this Detweiler for example. If he forgets where to send his unsubscribe message and sends it to the list instead, someone could send an unsubscribe message to the proper address for him. ex:

'unsubscribe [ listname ] user@e-mail.addr'

The system would note that the name of the person sending the unsubscribe message ( user1 ) was different from the one who was being unsubscribed ( user2 ) , and would, after unsubscribing user2 send a message to user2 telling him that he had been unsubscribed from the list by user1. ex:

'Dear user2, you have been unsubscribed from the Cypherpunks list by user1. If you wish to resubscribe, send a message containing...'

That way, instead of the list readers bombarding the folks who send the unsubscribe requests to the list, they could simply forward the request to the proper place.

Now, how do we get it implemented?

To keep this type of service from being abused there would need to be some kind of validation. At the very least the listproc should receive some form of 'ok' from the user being deleted in absentia. Otherwise the list would desolve into a morass of people unsubscribing others who annoyed them for no other reason than agravated neurosis. In general it would do nothing but double the load, further reducing bandwidth.