Thu, 25 Mar 2004 15:50:58
Your message to [log in to unmask] has been
forwarded to the "list owners" (the people who manage the OZADVOCACY
list). If you wanted to reach a human being, you used the correct
procedure and you can ignore the remainder of this message. If you were
trying to send a command for the computer to execute, please read on.
The OZADVOCACY list is managed by a LISTSERV server. LISTSERV commands
should always be sent to the "LISTSERV" address, ie
[log in to unmask] LISTSERV never tries to process messages
sent to the OZADVOCACY-request address; it simply forwards them to a
human being, and acknowledges receipt with the present message.
The "listname-request" convention originated on the Internet a long time
ago. At the time, lists were always managed manually, and this address
was defined as an alias for the person(s) in charge of the mailing list.
You would write to the "listname-request" address to ask for information
about the list, ask to be added to the list, make suggestions about the
contents and policy, etc. Because this address was always a human being,
people knew and expected to be talking to a human being, not to a
computer. Unfortunately, some recent list management packages screen
incoming messages to the "listname-request" address and attempt to
determine whether they are requests to join or leave the list. They look
for words such as "subscribe," "add," "leave," "off," and so on. If they
decide your message is a request to join or leave the list, they update
the list automatically; otherwise, they forward the message to the list
owners. Naturally, this means that if you write to the list owners about
someone else's unsuccessful attempts to leave the list, you stand good
chances of being automatically removed from the list, whereas the list
owners will never receive your message. No one really benefits from this.
There is no reliable mechanism to contact a human being for assistance,
and you can never be sure whether your request will be interpreted as a
command or as a message to the list owners. This is why LISTSERV uses two
separate addresses, one for the people in charge of the list and one for
the computer that runs it. This way you always know what will happen,
especially if you are writing in a language other than English.
In any case, if your message was a LISTSERV command, you should now
resend it to [log in to unmask] The list owners know that
you have received this message and may assume that you will resend the
command on your own. You will find instructions for the most common
administrative requests below.
*********************
* TO LEAVE THE LIST *
*********************
Write to [log in to unmask] and, in the text of your message
(not the subject line), write: SIGNOFF OZADVOCACY
********************
* TO JOIN THE LIST *
********************
Write to [log in to unmask] and, in the text of your message
(not the subject line), write: SUBSCRIBE OZADVOCACY
************************
* FOR MORE INFORMATION *
************************
Write to [log in to unmask] and, in the text of your message
(not the subject line), write: "HELP" or "INFO" (without the quotes).
HELP will give you a short help message and INFO a list of the documents
you can order.
|
