[2.6] I haven't received any messages recently. Is the list down or what?

Maybe. The list mechanism has broken down once or twice in the past. But before spamming everyone with queries, stop to check whether your listserv options are still what they should be:

    QUERY DIRECT-L

to the listserv address.

If everything seems to be set right, consider just waiting a few days. Email can go astray or be delayed for any number of reasons, so it's a good idea to let a reasonable time lapse before jumping to conclusions. If you're convinced something's wrong and need confirmation, try sending personal email to someone you know on the list. If the list is down, sending messages about it to the list is obviously a waste of time. Comparing notes with someone else who's also receiving or not receiving their subscription at least gets you that much information.

As a last resort you may wish to contact the list owner (see 2.9 below), although if there is something wrong it's a fair bet someone's already done this.

The one action which is demonstrably useless in such circumstances is mailing Direct-L about the problem. All that happens is everyone gets 200 posts bemoaning the list's absence after it isn't absent any more.