[aclug-L] Important Complete.Org List Changes

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

This message is being sent to all subscribers of all Complete.Org
mailing lists.  If you receive it multiple times, I apologize in
advance; it simply means you're on multiple mailing lists.

Today, there has been a major change on the Complete.Org mail server.
The software that hosts the mailing lists here has been changed to
Listar.  This should result in faster mail delivery, many more
features for you, more flexibility, and more.  Coupled with a recent
hardware upgrade for the mail server, lists should be much nicer now.

Most of your existing knowledge about how to interact with
Complete.Org's mail server should still serve you well.  Any commands
sent to Majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx will be automatically forwarded to
Listar@xxxxxxxxxxxx -- and the good news is that Listar can understand 
Majordomo commands, so you don't have to learn anything new.  Digests
are now handled in a much better way; to learn how to deal with them
now, look at the following URL in your web browser:

  http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/ListInfo.html#s3

You have already received, or will shortly receive, a confirmation
e-mail for your subscription on each Complete.Org list that you are
on.

For more help on the Complete.Org lists, see:

  http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/

Some Complete.Org lists have online archives containing searchable
copies of every message ever going across the list.  You may find
these at:

  http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/archives/

For your convenience, I am including at the end of this message a copy 
of the mailing list instructions that you can find at
http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/.  However, if you would like a
printed version, which can be nice to have as a reference, I'd
encourage you to download a PDF or PostScript version from the website 
and print it out.  Also, if you need any help, feel free to write to
me.

Regards,
John Goerzen
Postmaster, Complete.Org

-== Mailing List Instructions ==-

  Complete.Org Mailing Lists
  John Goerzen, jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx
  Fourth Edition; March 27, 1999

  Available on the World-Wide Web at
    http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/
  ______________________________________________________________________

  Table of Contents


  1. Introduction

     1.1 Complete.Org
     1.2 Getting the latest version of this document
     1.3 Mailing lists
        1.3.1 How a list works
        1.3.2 How to join a list (simple)
        1.3.3 How to leave a list (simple)
     1.4 Mailing List Archives

  2. Quick Start

     2.1 Joining a list
     2.2 Leaving a list
     2.3 Reading messages from the list
     2.4 Posting a message to the list
     2.5 Getting help
     2.6 Conclusion

  3. List digests

     3.1 Using list digests

  4. Talking to Listar

     4.1 The Basics
        4.1.1 Getting your request to Listar
           4.1.1.1 Alternate method of reaching Listar
        4.1.2 Formatting of commands
     4.2 Available Listar commands


  ______________________________________________________________________

  First Edition, 1996

  Second Edition, January 3, 1997

  Third Edition, October 23, 1998

  1.  Introduction

  1.1.  Complete.Org

  Complete.Org has been around in various forms for some time. At
  present.  Complete.Org hosts approximately 50 mailing lists, web-based
  archives for some of those, and various online services for Open
  Source  projects running under GNU/Linux, such as the Air Capital
  Linux Users Group .

  1.2.  Getting the latest version of this document

  You may always receive the latest version of this document by checking
  the World Wide Web at http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/ . This web
  page contains a typeset version suitable for printing, an online HTML
  version, and a plain text version that is sent to new list
  subscribers.

  1.3.  Mailing lists

  Mailing lists (or just "lists") are ways to have group discussions
  over the Internet. Lists can be open to the public or can be private.
  Or there are some ones that fall in-between. In the 50 lists hosted at
  Complete.Org, there are lists of almost every type, but the majority
  are public lists. Most lists let you join by sending a computer a
  simple command.

  I will give a brief overview of the various functions of a mailing
  list below. More in-depth explanations of many aspects of lists are
  discussed later.

  1.3.1.  How a list works

  Once you are part of a list group, here's how everything works. It is
  important to understand this, but it is a very simple process.


  1. You send a message to the list submission address (the list
     submission address is covered later)

  2. Your message is processed by a computer at complete.org

  3. The computer will then e-mail your message to everyone in the group

  4. Everyone gets your message and can read it!

  1.3.2.  How to join a list

  If you look at step 3 above, you notice that the message is sent to
  everyone in the group. That brings up a question: how do you become
  part of the group?

  The procedure is very simple!


  1. Send the computer at complete.org a request to join a list

  2. The computer processes your request

  3. You receive a confirmation in e-mail of your request status

  Details on how to send the computer your request, etc. are below.

  1.3.3.  How to leave a list

  If you ever want a leave a list, it is very simple.


  1. Send the computer at complete.org a request to leave a list

  2. The computer processes your request

  3. You receive a confirmation in e-mail of your request status

  Again, see the later sections in this manual for more information
  about sending the computer your request.

  1.4.  Mailing List Archives

  Some Complete.Org mailing lists have archives of all past and present
  posts that have been sent to the list. These are useful for checking
  to see whether your comment has been discussed before, and also
  provides an alternative interface to reading messages in a mail
  client. To access these archives, point your Web browser to
  http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/archives/ .

  2.  Quick Start

  This section will get you up and going quickly with complete.org's
  mailing lists. Later on in this manual are in-depth instructions for
  communicating with mail software at complete.org.

  Throughout this section, we will use a fictitious list called listname
  as a sample. For instance, there will be a reference to listname-
  request@xxxxxxxxxxxx.  If the list you actually want to act upon is
  called qwerty, you would use qwerty-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx.  If the list
  you actually want to act upon is called qwerty-discussion-digest, you
  would use qwerty-discussion-digest-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx.

  2.1.  Joining a list

  Send an e-mail to listname-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. In the body of that
  e-mail, put the single word SUBSCRIBE. You will shortly receive an
  acknowledgement from the complete.org computer indicating that it has
  processed your request.

  2.2.  Leaving a list

  Send an e-mail to listname-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. In the body of that
  e-mail, put the single word UNSUBSCRIBE. You will shortly receive an
  acknowledgement from the complete.org computer indicating that is has
  processed your request.

  2.3.  Reading messages from the list

  After you have joined a list, all messages send to the list will be
  automatically e-mailed directly to you. There is nothing special you
  need to do to read messages on the list.

  2.4.  Posting a message to the list

  To post a message to the list, simply e-mail your message to
  listname@xxxxxxxxxxxx.

  2.5.  Getting help

  If you have a problem, question, or a comment, you may write to
  listar-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx (for generic list system questions) or to
  listname-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx.

  2.6.  Conclusion

  If you are just interested in the basics of mailing lists, you don't
  need to read any more information in this manual. The other
  information is for users that want to use Listar's more advanced
  functions, such as list digests.

  3.  List digests

  Sometimes you may be subscribed to a list with high volume (that is,
  there are lots of posts to it). Such a list may place a lot of
  messages in your mailbox.  This is where list digests come in handy. A
  list digest will take a bunch of messages, combine them all into one
  large message, and deliver that message to you. You get exactly the
  same messages from a list digest as you would from a normal list --
  they are just delivered to you differently.

  3.1.  Using list digests

  Using a list digest is simple. Write to listname-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
  as before. However, this time, in the body of your message, put the
  line:

  SET DIGEST

  You will receive a confirmation by return e-mail.

  If you ever want to turn off digest mode, write to listname-
  request@xxxxxxxxxxxx, and put this line in the body of your message:

  UNSET DIGEST

  Remember, replace "listname" with the real name of the list; for
  instance, if your list is aclug-L, you'd write to aclug-L-
  request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. If you need help, please feel free to write to
  listar-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx.

  4.  Talking to Listar

  Listar is a system that handles join and leave requests for the
  Complete.Org mailing lists.

  4.1.  The Basics

  Listar is a computer program that runs on the computer at
  complete.org.  It takes commands and acts accordingly. Since it is not
  a human, you have to word commands in certain precise ways. But it's
  very easy!

  4.1.1.  Getting your request to Listar

  This is easy! In your e-mail program, you send a message to the e-mail
  address listar@xxxxxxxxxxxx. You can set the subject to anything you
  want. The commands that you have for Listar will go in the body of
  your message.

  4.1.1.1.  Alternate method of reaching Listar

  In the summary of Listar commands, you will see that many of them
  require you to use a listname with the command, for instance,
  "SUBSCRIBE listname". Another, possibly easier way to send a
  "SUBSCRIBE listname" command is to send your message to listname-
  request@xxxxxxxxxxxx and then omit the "listname" parameter from the
  command line. For instance, to subscribe to a list called qwerty-
  discussion, you would e-mail qwerty-discussion-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
  and put just the word "SUBSCRIBE" in the body of your message. This
  command works with all commands below that ask for a listname on their
  command line. This is the method detailed above.

  4.1.2.  Formatting of commands

  In the body of your message, you will supply one or more commands for
  Listar.  Each command is a request for a certain task to be performed.
  Each command goes on one line. Listar will continue looking for more
  commands until it reaches the end of your e-mail, the command QUIT or
  it seems to recognize a sig. If you have a sigfile, either put the
  command QUIT before it in your message or turn it off -- otherwise,
  you may confuse Listar.

  4.2.  Available Listar commands

  The Listar commands are too numerous to list here. You may, however,
  request a summary of them by sending a message to Listar@xxxxxxxxxxxx
  and putting the command HELP in it.