I'm not sure what the question is but I'll try to elaborate on the active   
list.

INN will not automatically send an active list but must be queried for   
the active list.  So your news reader is the one to blame here, it is   
apparently requesting the active file each time you start it up.

Several MS-Windows based news readers (WINVN as an example) will either   
query the user if they want to get update their active file or you can   
just turn off getting the active file each time you start the reader.

jam
 ----------
From:  owner-current-users[SMTP:owner-current-users@NetBSD.ORG]
Sent:  Sunday, December 17, 1995 8:15 PM
To:  current-users
Subject:  Anyone got INN running?

I have, but inews insists on grabbing a local active file from the
server for posting; this is a *rediculous* cost - about 300k of
transfer.  I am wondering if anyone knows if this is a stupid user
bug.

 -s