SEELANGS Administrivia - Attachments on the list

[Alex Rudd]

Dear SEELANGS members,

I posted earlier this month, in response to a query from a subscriber,
to explain the reasons why we have a size limit of 500 lines set on
the list.  (Messages longer than 500 lines of text get rejected rather
than distributed.)  At the time, it was the only way to ensure that
we caught large attachments prior to distribution.  Attachments are not
allowed on the list per the following guideline, which can be found in
the Welcome message sent to new subscribers:

--- Begin ---

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.

--- End ---

In addition to the reasons given in the guideline, attachments
sometimes contain computer viruses or worms and the elimination
of SEELANGS as a potential vehicle for the unwitting distribution
of such things is a worthy goal.

As I mentioned in my last post, we've been waiting for an upgrade
to the LISTSERV server at CUNY that would allow us to snare these
attachments without imposing any kind of size limit on post
submissions.  That upgrade has now taken place and I've activated
the feature on SEELANGS.  From now on, any message submitted to
the SEELANGS list containing an attachment will be rejected and
returned to the sender (with an explanation).  The comments I
received from the several of you who wrote after my last post
were unanimous in supporting such a thing.

A couple of you also wrote to assure me that you had no problem
with my limiting the size of posts to 500 lines of text, as it's
extremely difficult to conceive of the legitimate post that would
require so much text.  For that reason, I have retained that
setting as well.  But now that we have the ability to filter out
and reject attachments, I would certainly be willing to remove
the 500 lines limit if enough of you wanted it and presented
compelling reasons I haven't considered.

Finally, as long as I'm writing and have your attention, permit
me to post a brief reminder of another guideline from the SEELANGS
Welcome message:

--- Begin ---

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.

--- End ---

Many of you have been disregarding this guideline in your
replies on the list.  When I have some free time (which is
rare), I've been writing some of you off-list with reminders,
but I haven't (and won't) take any other action.  I'm hoping
that my appeal to the generally intelligent and cooperative
membership here will suffice.

If you would like your own copy of the SEELANGS Welcome message
that contains our list guidelines and information about controling
your own subscription, you can send the command:

GET WELCOME SEELANGS

in the body of e-mail to:  LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU

and LISTSERV will mail it to you.  If you'd prefer, you can also
find the Welcome message on the web at:

http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/

Any questions, comments or concerns, please reply off-list.

Thanks.

- Alex, list owner of SEELANGS    seelangs-request at listserv.cuny.edu
....................................................................
Alex Rudd                ahrjj at cunyvm.cuny.edu            ARS KA2ZOO
{Standard Disclaimer}    http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/

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