Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 07:13:36 -0400
Reply-To: vw4x4@FYI.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Eric Zeno <vw4x4@FYI.NET>
Subject: Re: Your message to vanagon-request@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
In-Reply-To: <a06002000bd9943ffca2f@[203.167.171.50]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Good question..... your not alone....
Andrew Grebneff wrote:
> Why am I getting these?
>
>> Mon, 18 Oct 2004 00:59:31
>>
>> Your message to vanagon-request@GERRY.VANAGON.COM has been
>> forwarded to
>> the "list owners" (the people who manage the vanagon 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 vanagon list is managed by a ListServ server. ListServ
>> commands
>> should always be sent to the "ListServ"
>> address, ie
>> LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM. ListServ never tries to process messages
>> sent
>> to the vanagon-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 LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM. 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 LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM and, in the text of your message
>> (not
>> the subject line), write: SIGNOFF vanagon
>>
>> +--------------------+
>> | TO JOIN THE LIST |
>> +--------------------+
>>
>> Write to LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM and, in the text of your message
>> (not
>> the subject line), write: SUBSCRIBE vanagon
>>
>> +------------------------+
>> | FOR MORE INFORMATION |
>> +------------------------+
>>
>> Write to LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 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.
>
>
>
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