Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:40:01
You have been added to the ITCOMM mailing list (SURA Mailing List ITCOMM)
by root@SURA.ORG.
Please save this message for future reference, especially if this is the
first time you are subscribing to an electronic mailing list. If you ever
need to leave the list, you will find the necessary instructions below.
Perhaps more importantly, saving a copy of this message (and of all
future subscription notices from other mailing lists) in a special mail
folder will give you instant access to the list of mailing lists that you
are subscribed to. This may prove very useful the next time you go on
vacation and need to leave the lists temporarily so as not to fill up
your mailbox while you are away! You should also save the "welcome
messages" from the list owners that you will occasionally receive after
subscribing to a new list.
To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list,
just send mail to ITCOMM@SURA.ORG. This is called "sending mail to the
list," because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV makes
copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address
(ITCOMM@SURA.ORG) is also called the "list address." You must never try
to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed to all
the people who have subscribed. All commands must be sent to the
"LISTSERV address," LISTSERV@SURA.ORG. It is very important to understand
the difference between the two, but fortunately it is not complicated.
The LISTSERV address is like a FAX number that connects you to a machine,
whereas the list address is like a normal voice line connecting you to a
person. If you make a mistake and dial the FAX number when you wanted to
talk to someone on the phone, you will quickly realize that you used the
wrong number and call again. No harm will have been done. If on the other
hand you accidentally make your FAX call someone's voice line, the person
receiving the call will be inconvenienced, especially if your FAX then
re-dials every 5 minutes. The fact that most people will eventually
connect the FAX machine to the voice line to allow the FAX to go through
and make the calls stop does not mean that you should continue to send
FAXes to the voice number. People would just get mad at you. It works
pretty much the same way with mailing lists, with the difference that you
are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the same time, and
consequently you can expect a lot of people to get upset if you
consistently send commands to the list address.
You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF ITCOMM" command
to LISTSERV@SURA.ORG. You can also tell LISTSERV how you want it to
confirm the receipt of messages you send to the list. If you do not trust
the system, send a "SET ITCOMM REPRO" command and LISTSERV will send you
a copy of your own messages, so that you can see that the message was
distributed and did not get damaged on the way. After a while you may
find that this is getting annoying, especially if your mail program does
not tell you that the message is from you when it informs you that new
mail has arrived from ITCOMM. If you send a "SET ITCOMM ACK NOREPRO"
command, LISTSERV will mail you a short acknowledgement instead, which
will look different in your mailbox directory. With most mail programs
you will know immediately that this is an acknowledgement you can read
later. Finally, you can turn off acknowledgements completely with "SET
ITCOMM NOACK NOREPRO".
Contributions sent to this list are automatically archived. You can get a
list of the available archive files by sending an "INDEX ITCOMM" command
to LISTSERV@SURA.ORG. You can then order these files with a "GET ITCOMM
LOGxxxx" command, or using LISTSERV's database search facilities. Send an
"INFO DATABASE" command for more information on the latter.
This list is available in digest form. If you wish to receive the
digested version of the postings, just issue a SET ITCOMM DIGEST command.
Please note that it is presently possible for other people to determine
that you are signed up to the list through the use of the "REVIEW"
command, which returns the e-mail address and name of all the
subscribers. If you do not want your name to be visible, just issue a
"SET ITCOMM CONCEAL" command.
More information on LISTSERV commands can be found in the LISTSERV
reference card, which you can retrieve by sending an "INFO REFCARD"
command to LISTSERV@SURA.ORG.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jul 17 2001 - 23:43:52 EDT