SEELANGS Administrivia - The list has moved
Alex Rudd
AHRJJ at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Thu Jan 6 02:40:12 UTC 2000
Dear SEELangers,
Apologies for the delay in moving the list. The LISTSERV
maintainer at CUNY, who must be the one to actually do the
moving, has been under the weather.
This is a long post, but I'd appreciate it if you'd read the
whole thing.
Two important items:
First, SEELANGS has now officially moved servers. From now on,
please use the following e-mail addresses:
To send a command: LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
To post to the list: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
To contact the list owners: SEELANGS-Request at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
If you accidentally use one of the "old" addresses ending in
CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU, LISTSERV will forward your message to the
new server and remind you of the change.
Second, for nearly the last nine years SEELANGS has lacked a
Welcome message. As those of you subscribed to other lists
know, a Welcome message is automatically sent to new subscribers
upon their joining an e-mail discussion list. It generally
describes the list, provides information about using the list,
contains guidelines and contact information, and other, related
things. As we've never had one, new subscribers to SEELANGS
have always been sent the default Welcome message, composed a
long time ago by one of the folks at L-Soft international, Inc.,
the company that authors the LISTSERV software we use to run
the list. It's generic, and therefore not very useful, but it
does contain basic LISTSERV information.
Well, I figured it was about time we had one, especially since
we're a growing list, both in terms of capabilities (the web
interface) and in terms of list members. When I began
administering SEELANGS in early 1993, there were about 300
subscribers. Today, we have 933. As a quick aside, as we
so seldom discuss list composition, you might be interested
in the list's make-up. The following list reflects SEELANGS
membership as calculated by LISTSERV using top-level domains
(e.g. .au = Australia, .dk = Denmark, .nl = Netherlands).
For that reason, it is not a precise reflection, as many list
members outside the United States are subscribed from e-mail
addresses ending in .net or .com and are therefore counted,
erroneously, as being in the U.S.
* Country Subscribers
* ------- -----------
* Australia 6
* Austria 4
* Belgium 2
* Bulgaria 1
* Canada 47
* Croatia/Hrvatska 3
* Czech Republic 2
* Denmark 6
* Estonia 2
* Finland 2
* France 2
* Germany 16
* Great Britain 42
* Greece 1
* Hong Kong 2
* Hungary 1
* Ireland 1
* Israel 10
* Italy 3
* Japan 12
* Macedonia, former Yugoslavia Rep. 1
* Mexico 1
* Netherlands 17
* New Zealand 2
* Norway 5
* Poland 3
* Russian Federation 6
* Singapore 1
* Slovakia 1
* Slovenia 1
* Spain 1
* Sweden 9
* Switzerland 6
* Ukraine 1
* USA 705
* Yugoslavia 1
* ??? 7
*
* Total number of users subscribed to the list: 933
* Total number of countries represented: 37
Sorry to have digressed...
Because the list has grown, and because I often see messages
posted to SEELANGS which reflect a lack of familiarity with
e-mail client programs and net etiquette as well as with how
LISTSERV lists operate, I created a Welcome message for the
list. I do run other LISTSERV lists, and the SEELANGS Welcome
message is modeled on my other Welcome messages, but it is
tailored to this list. I am including it in this message
because I'd like everyone to read it, including current, and
even long-time, subscribers. Among other things, it contains
guidelines. The guidelines are designed to encourage people
to post intelligently, respecting our computer resources and
those of their fellow list members. These are tried and
tested guidelines (on other lists) and I expect them to be
useful here as well.
Here it is:
--- Begin ---
Please save this e-mail for future reference!
WELCOME!
Thank you for your interest in SEELANGS, the Slavic and East
European Languages and Literature discussion list.
This Welcome message contains:
o Information on controlling your own subscription
o List guidelines
Any Questions? Write to: SEELANGS-Request at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
SEELANGS exists to facilitate discussion of topics of interest
to teachers and students of Russian and other Slavic and East
European languages and literature. Use the list in furtherance
of that general goal. But please, do not treat SEELANGS or its
members with disrespect. Profanity is not welcome, nor is
language which demeans or belittles other people or groups of
people. It is further expected that list members will conduct
themselves in a mature and polite manner towards fellow list
members. "Flames" will not be tolerated. The list owner reserves
the right to take any action he feels appropriate to ensure the
smooth operation of the list.
General Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SEELANGS is a LISTSERV list. That means it is run using the
LISTSERV list-management software developed (and trademarked) by
L-Soft international, Inc. All LISTSERV lists make use of the
same commands and you may be familiar with some of them. Most
(if not all) of the commands you will need to control your own
subscription to SEELANGS are described below. List members
wishing to learn about all available commands can download a
complete LISTSERV user's manual at the following URL:
http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8d/userindex.html
To post a message to SEELANGS, send e-mail to:
SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Whatever you send to that address will be distributed to everyone
subscribed. That is the address to use when you wish to ask a
question of other list members or participate in the on-list
discussions. New members may wish to post an introduction.
Those list members with web access may prefer to post
using the SEELANGS Web Interface at the following URL:
http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
Do NOT post to the list to ask questions about your SEELANGS
subscription or about LISTSERV and its commands. All such questions
should be addressed directly to the list owners at their list
owners' address:
SEELANGS-Request at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
The list owners for SEELANGS are Alex Rudd and Robert Whittaker.
Options for receiving SEELANGS mail
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All options described below can also be altered by using the SEELANGS
Web Interface. Go to: http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
Once there, click on "Subscription Options."
There are three ways to receive mail from the list. The first, called
MAIL, is the default. When your subscription options are set to MAIL,
you receive one piece of new e-mail for every message distributed on the
list. If you'd like to receive posts from the list in this manner, you
need not do anything; you're already set up. SEELANGS averages about
4 or 5 posts per day.
The second option is called DIGEST. If, rather than receive 4 or 5
pieces of mail from the list every day, you'd like to receive only one
piece of e-mail in which are bundled those 4 or 5 posts, send
the command:
SET SEELANGS DIGEST
The number of daily DIGESTs you get will depend on how many posts
are sent to the list in a given day and how long they are. Each
DIGEST will be no longer than 800 lines of text. When LISTSERV
reaches that number, it sends out a DIGEST and starts the next
one. In other words, the number of daily DIGESTs you get from
day to day may not be constant (but will likely not exceed one).
The third option is called INDEX. If you like the idea of receiving
only one piece of mail per day from the list, but don't want to have
to sift through all the posts, you can have LISTSERV send you
only a list (index) of the posts distributed that day and then you can
"order" those you want sent to you. If you want to be set up this way,
send the command:
SET SEELANGS INDEX
HINT: If you use an e-mail program which comes bundled with a
web browser, such as Netscape Messenger or Microsoft's Outlook
Express, you might find that the INDEX option works best in terms
of organizing the list mail you get. If you use such a program,
the command (instead of SET POLICE-L INDEX) to use is this:
SET SEELANGS INDEX MIME HTML
HINT: If you do not use an e-mail program which comes bundled
with a web browser, and if you find that the instructions
contained in each daily Index message are confusing to you, you
can also retrieve the posts you want by using the GETPOST SEELANGS
command and the message numbers found in the far left column of
each daily Index message. For example:
GETPOST SEELANGS 10234 10236 10240 10253 10266
Should you choose to use DIGEST or INDEX and later decide to switch back
to the default method of receiving list mail, send the command:
SET SEELANGS MAIL
(Hint: SET SEELANGS NODIGEST or SET SEELANGS NOINDEX will also work.)
NOTE: All commands should be sent in the body of e-mail to:
LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
When sending mail to that address, you can put anything you want in the
Subject: line, or leave it blank; LISTSERV ignores it anyway.
NOTE: You must send a *new* e-mail to that address if you'd like to use
one of these options. Replying to this message will not work.
Changing your e-mail address with SEELANGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you should change Internet Service Providers or otherwise get a
new e-mail address and you want your SEELANGS mail sent to the new
address, you do not have to re-subscribe. There are three ways to go
about changing your subscription address. The first, and easiest,
method is to do it yourself using the SEELANGS Web Interface. Go to
the following URL:
http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
and select "Subscription Options." When that page is loaded in your
web browser, your current subscription address will appear in a box.
Simply change that address to your new e-mail address and click on
"Update."
The second method is to unsubscribe from your old e-mail address and
resubscribe from your new e-mail address. From your OLD e-mail
address send the command:
SIGNOFF SEELANGS
in the body of e-mail to: LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>From your NEW e-mail address, send the command:
SUB SEELANGS FirstName LastName
(using your own first and last names, of course).
You should avail yourself of the third method only if you can't make
the change using either of the first two methods (e.g. if you don't
have web access or no longer have access to your old e-mail address).
The third method involves asking the list owners for help. Write
them at the list owners' address:
SEELANGS-Request at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Explain that you would like your subscription address updated.
Remember to include your name and old subscription address in
your message. The list owners will then update your subscription
address at their earliest convenience.
NOTE: To protect SEELANGS from spammers and mass-marketers, only
subscribers may post to the list. If you have more than one e-mail
address, you may post only from the one you have subscribed to the
list (unless you choose to subscribe more than one).
How to Stop the Mail if You're Going Away
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you're going away on vacation or will otherwise be away from
your computer for any period of time, you may want to stop the
list mail from coming while you're gone. There are two ways to
do it. The first involves making use of the SEELANGS Web Interface.
Go to the following URL:
http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
Once there, click on "Subscription Options." When the page
loads, scroll down to the section marked "Miscellaneous,"
click on the box next to "Mail delivery disabled temporarily,"
and then click on "Update."
To resume mail delivery, click on that box again to deselect
it and click on "Update."
It can also be done using e-mail. Here's how to do it:
Send e-mail to: LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Put anything (or nothing) in the Subject: line and in the main
body of the text put only the single line:
SET POLICE-L NOMAIL
That will stop the mail. When you come back and want to start
it again, send mail to that same address containing the command:
SET POLICE-L MAIL
Unsubscribing from SEELANGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you should ever decide to leave the list permanently, you can
unsubscribe by sending the command:
SIGNOFF SEELANGS
in the body of e-mail to: LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
You can also unsubscribe on the "Subscription Options" page of
the SEELANGS Web Interface.
Renewing Your Subscription To SEELANGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your SEELANGS subscription never expires and you will never be
asked to renew. LISTSERV assumes that if you remain subscribed
then you want to remain subscribed. However, every three months,
LISTSERV will check to see whether you're still receiving mail
at your subscription address. If it detects a permanent problem,
LISTSERV will automatically remove you from the list. Likewise,
if SEELANGS mail sent to you starts to bounce back as undeliverable,
LISTSERV will check to see whether the problem is permanent. If it
is, or if more than 200 error messages are received, LISTSERV will
remove you from the list. If you should ever find yourself removed
from the list against your wishes, you may simply resubscribe.
Searching the SEELANGS Archives
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All messages posted to SEELANGS are archived and the archives can
be searched by any list member. The easiest way to search the
archives is via the SEELANGS Web Interface. Using your web browser,
go to the following URL:
http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
Once there, click on "Search the Archives." If you don't have web
access, you can search the archives using e-mail. To learn how to
do this, send the command:
GET SEELANGS SEARCH
in the body of e-mail to: LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
In addition, SEELANGS participates in the "Mailing List Project"
coordinated by The LINGUIST List. That project, funded by a grant
from the National Science Foundation, involves centralizing
in a single location the archives of as many language-related
discussion lists as possible. Among other things, it will mean
that archives from all those lists will be available to a single,
flexible search engine and a user will be able to initiate
a search ranging over multiple lists, including SEELANGS. The
LINGUIST List archives page can found at the following URL:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/
List Guidelines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guidelines below are essentially a codification of net
etiquette. They are designed to promote a virtual culture
which is considerate of list members' time and resources
while at the same time is not wasteful of SEELANGS' own
resources. All list members are strongly urged to comply
with these guidelines. No enforcement measures are currently
planned in connection with the violation of these guidelines,
but the list owners, at their own discretion, may contact
off-list people who violate the guidelines and request that
they comply thereafter.
Personal Replies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because each message sent to the list address is distributed to
all list members, personal messages and replies should not be posted.
If you wish to reply only to the original sender of a post, make
sure your reply is directed to that person and not to the list
address (seelangs at listserv.cuny.edu). If you wish to contact only
one subscriber, yet do not know that person's personal e-mail address,
do not use the list address to write him. Instead make use of the
SCAN SEELANGS command or write the list owners for assistance.
Example: SCAN SEELANGS Smith
VERY IMPORTANT: When you just use the Reply feature of your e-mail
program while reading a SEELANGS post, your reply is directed back
to SEELANGS, *not* to the person who posted. Your failure to
realize this fact is what gets most people in trouble when it comes
to sending personal replies to the list address.
Quoting Text From Original Messages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because all posts to SEELANGS are archived, and because disk
space is a finite resource, list members are asked to pay
close attention when they reply to messages on the list and
quote text. Including portions of original messages is fine,
as long as it's done to provide context for the reader and
is done selectively. However, quoting entire original
messages within the body of replies, when the original messages
are more than just a few lines, is prohibited. Not only
does it fill up our disk space with extraneous text, but
those list members receiving SEELANGS in DIGEST format are
forced to read through the same messages three and four
times.
Attachments And Encoded Messages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When sending messages to SEELANGS, please use only plain
ascii text. Do not attach executables or files, including
images or sounds. Do not format your messages in base64,
MIME, or html. Such formatting and use of attachments may
result in the archival of great amounts of unnecessary text,
which is a waste of our resources, and not all subscribers
use mail clients capable of decoding such things. List members
who use Microsoft's Outlook Express should pay special
attention, as the default formatting with that program is
text/html, and a manual change in its configuration must be
made prior to posting to the list.
Advertising on SEELANGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since only subscribers have the ability to post to SEELANGS,
no outside entity will post advertisements directly to the
list. From time to time the list owner receives requests
from vendors of slavic-related merchandise to distribute
information about that merchandise to the list membership.
If the list owner determines that the information may be of
interest, he may forward it to the list if the vendor complies
with the following conditions:
The advertisement will:
o briefly identify the company
o briefly describe the product(s)
o NOT contain any price information or dollar amounts
o request that any interested parties contact the vendor
directly for further information
o contain vendor contact information
o NOT be more than 60 lines of text
List members who wish to advertise businesses or products
in which they have a financial interest are discouraged from
doing so on SEELANGS if the businesses or products have
nothing to do with slavic languages or literature. If they
do have something to do with slavic languages or literature,
list members are asked to comply with the above guideline.
NOTE: The above guideline regarding advertising on SEELANGS
does not apply to seminar and conference announcements.
Such announcements may contain dollar amounts and, due to the
occasional inclusion of forms, may exceed 60 lines of text. If
posting an announcement or including a form, please be sure to
insert your own "Reply-To:" tag in your out-going mail header or
write the list owners for assistance if you do not know how that
is accomplished.
Remember, please save this e-mail for future reference! If you
delete or lose it, you can always grab a copy of the current
version of this Welcome message by sending the command:
GET WELCOME SEELANGS
in the body of e-mail to: LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
For your convenience, you can also find it on-line on the
SEELANGS Web Interface site.
--- End ---
By the way, many of you work in libraries or university
language departments and often refer colleagues and students
to SEELANGS. While spreading news of SEELANGS by word of
mouth is a good thing, keep in mind that these people will
not be able to post to the list unless they actually subscribe.
Now that we have the web site, the best thing would be for you
to give them the URL, http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
and allow them to learn about the list there. If you spot a
job announcement or similar on the list and want to post it
in your library or department, feel free to do so. If you
have deleted the post and later want to show it to somebody,
you can now retrieve it from the archives easily. Do not,
as some of you have been, direct people to inquire about the
previously-posted job announcement on the list.
Finally, if any of you are running a local redistribution of
SEELANGS, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Anyone receiving
SEELANGS mail from a source other than LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
may not be able to post to the list and I want to be sure they
know that.
To be very honest, I haven't had a great deal of time to devote
to SEELANGS the last few years and am trying to make it up to you.
I acknowledge, too, that I may not have my finger squarely on the
pulse of the list. Therefore, please know that I will be very
receptive to comments, criticisms and, especially, suggestions
on how to improve the content of the Welcome message or the web
site.
Thanks for reading such a long message.
Please direct any replies to me off-list.
Thanks.
- Alex, list owner of SEELANGS seelangs-request at listserv.cuny.edu
....................................................................
Alex Rudd ahrjj at cunyvm.cuny.edu ARS KA2ZOO
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