I reported that my email lists were, once again, down. Now I am told that I must re-create these lists!!! To me, this is an absurdly stupid answer to this problem. The lists obviously exist, their configuration and web pages, as well as their archives, exist and operate properly. There is some problem with the mail processing queues or similar, since they seem to have mail waiting for processing, but it is all "gummed up" and stuck.

I AM NOT RE-CREATING THESE LISTS!!! IF I DO, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE THAT THIS SAME PROBLEM WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN TOMORROW!!! YOU - YES, YOU, HOSTONY.COM - ARE RESPONSIBLE for investigating and remedying this problem. If the problem could be isolated to my PC (highly unlikely, as all my users are affected), some indication of how (or why) my PC is the problem should be offered. The (lack of) solution proposed by your technician is woefully inadequate, and leaves this issue thoroghly unresolved.

Here is the support ticket (Support request FD-25093) as it stands so far (my site name is converted to blahblah.com):

ME:
Several email items have been sent to the listserver (blah@blahblah.com) without having been acknowledged in any way - and never distributed. Is the listserve/mailman running??
This is on SERVER 28.

TECH SUPPORT:
Dear Customer,

Please check it again. I think now mailman is working fine on your server.

Best regards,
tech's name withheld

ME:
I tried the 'blah@blahblah.com' list, of which I am the only subscriber, and so far it is NOT working. It has been a couple of minutes since I sent the message, and still no response.

TECH SUPPORT:
Dear Customer,

we have checked - from our side mailman is working. Please try to reboot your computer or try to create some new test maillist and try to send e-mails again.

Best regards,
tech's name withheld

ME:
It appears as though if I create a new list, it works, but the lists which exist still do not seem to work.

I have too many subscribers to my lists for me to delete and re-create!

I should also add that messages sent to the lists since Friday 4/7 (and never delivered) are NOT appearing on the list archives.

TECH SUPPORT:
Dear Customer,

Then please copy your sender list (of your reciepients) and recreate your maillist. Because we can't suggest you anything else. Sorry for the inconveniences.

Best regards,
tech's name withheld

ME:
Have you really tried everything? I think there are many messages "stuck" in a queue somewhere. I think that stopping and restarting the mailing list daemon might flush the system and allow those messages to flow to the lists' users.

I don't think you realize how much work it is to re-create the lists, plus there is no guarantee that all that work will not have to be repeated again in the future if/when this problem reoccurs. Perhaps, with your administrative rights to the maillist server and the database, you could find an easier and more "actually fixed" solution to this issue.

TECH SUPPORT:
Dear Customer,

Trust me, I know what means to recreate a maillist. we have restarted our mailman service from the begining - when you opened a ticket to ensure that everything works from our side. So we can't do anything if your maillist stop working. It means that the problem is from maillist itself - not from the server side.

Best regards,
tech's name withheld

Hello,
our system administrator will investigate your issue and respond to your ticket ASAP.

Best regards,
Slavik Koshelev

Thank you. The email lists now do appear to be operating as normal.