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Dear Biomch-L readers,
With membership of the list now reaching the 300 mark, I would like to
make a few remarks concerning management of the list. Every posting to
the list is distributed to the subscribers by a program called LISTSERV.
When a mail message fails to arrive, usually an error message is generated.
LISTSERV, being a computer program, is incapable of handling these error
messages intelligently and just dumps them into the mailbox of one of the
'list owners', i.c. Herman Woltring and myself.
Most of the errors are temporary malfunctions, so we ignore them for about
two weeks. When the error persists, we usually tried to determine the
cause of the error by contacting the 'postmaster' at the subscribers
node. I say 'tried', because keeping track of the errors and their
solution takes too much time -- I receive about 10 error messages daily.
The present policy is to shift some of the resposibility to the subscriber.
In case of a persistent error, we will set the distribution options of the
subscriber to 'nomail'. He/she is then still on the list but (temporarily)
receives no postings. To be reactivated, the subscriber will have to take the
initiative. You can reactivate yourself by sending 'set biomch-l mail' to
LISTSERV@HEARN.BITNET or LISTSERV@nic.surfnet.nl. Or you can ask help
from one of the list owners.
If you are moving to another address, the ideal procedure is to delete your
old subscription by sending 'signoff biomch-l' to LISTSERV (you must do
this from the old address). Then subscribe from your new address by
sending 'subscribe biomch-l '. If this fails for some reason,
ask one of the list owners to help you.
More information about LISTSERV can be found in the file LISTSERV.MEMO,
you can get this file by sending 'send listserv memo' to LISTSERV.
Summarizing: users should try to keep their own subscription working.
In case of problems, contact one of the list owners. They prefer being
asked for assistance, rather than receiving an endless sequence of error
messages.
Ton van den Bogert
University of Utrecht, Netherlands
With membership of the list now reaching the 300 mark, I would like to
make a few remarks concerning management of the list. Every posting to
the list is distributed to the subscribers by a program called LISTSERV.
When a mail message fails to arrive, usually an error message is generated.
LISTSERV, being a computer program, is incapable of handling these error
messages intelligently and just dumps them into the mailbox of one of the
'list owners', i.c. Herman Woltring and myself.
Most of the errors are temporary malfunctions, so we ignore them for about
two weeks. When the error persists, we usually tried to determine the
cause of the error by contacting the 'postmaster' at the subscribers
node. I say 'tried', because keeping track of the errors and their
solution takes too much time -- I receive about 10 error messages daily.
The present policy is to shift some of the resposibility to the subscriber.
In case of a persistent error, we will set the distribution options of the
subscriber to 'nomail'. He/she is then still on the list but (temporarily)
receives no postings. To be reactivated, the subscriber will have to take the
initiative. You can reactivate yourself by sending 'set biomch-l mail' to
LISTSERV@HEARN.BITNET or LISTSERV@nic.surfnet.nl. Or you can ask help
from one of the list owners.
If you are moving to another address, the ideal procedure is to delete your
old subscription by sending 'signoff biomch-l' to LISTSERV (you must do
this from the old address). Then subscribe from your new address by
sending 'subscribe biomch-l '. If this fails for some reason,
ask one of the list owners to help you.
More information about LISTSERV can be found in the file LISTSERV.MEMO,
you can get this file by sending 'send listserv memo' to LISTSERV.
Summarizing: users should try to keep their own subscription working.
In case of problems, contact one of the list owners. They prefer being
asked for assistance, rather than receiving an endless sequence of error
messages.
Ton van den Bogert
University of Utrecht, Netherlands