Villan,

Opening them in series as PMs, a few at a time, you could be answering one (#1 for instance) while the next one (#5) opens.

I don't think Mudcat PMs were meant to take the place of email or groups such as those offered by Yahoo & MSN. Maybe a thread announcing a more practical mode of handling club-related correspondence would be a way of making a transition. You could even use a thread like that to say that you will not be able to answer old PMs and would people please write again via email.

Another alternative might be delegating the handling of club-related PMs to someone else who could do them in batches during times when the Cat is running well. I'd warn people in a thread, first, if someone other than yourself will open PMs. You'd want to be sure they are club PMs.

~S~