Confirm-Delay Keyword

Confirm-Delay= number

This keyword is not available in LISTSERV Lite.

This parameter is an integer representing the number of hours LISTSERV will hold subscription confirmation requests before flushing them from its queue. For instance, if "Subscription= Open,Confirm" and "Confirm-Delay= 72", LISTSERV will accept a subscription request pending confirmation, send the confirmation request, and will wait 72 hours (3 days) for that confirmation to be received. If the period expires before the confirmation is received, the subscription request is deleted and the subscriber must resubmit his or her request. The default setting is 48 hours (2 days).

This keyword can also extend the period of time during which postings to a list coded "Send= Editor,Hold" are held before they are flushed. The default (and minimum) for holding such postings is 7 days (168 hours). Note that you can only increase this period with "Confirm-Delay=", not decrease it. Thus for a list with "Send= Editor,Hold" and "Confirm-Delay=48", the holding period would still be 7 days. But for a list coded "Send= Editor,Hold" and "Confirm-Delay=240", the holding period would be 10 days (240 hours).

Please inform the LISTSERV administrator before any significant increase to the value of "Confirm-Delay=", particularly if your list is coded "Send= Editor,Hold" or "Send= Editor,Hold,Confirm", as the increased delay could cause a problem with disk space availability.

Note that if you increase "Confirm-Delay=" to extend the holding period for postings, you are also increasing the period during which LISTSERV will hold subscription requests requiring confirmation.