World Wide Words FAQ

[Michael Quinion]

World Wide Words FAQ
--------------------
This document is sent to you roughly every three months because you
are listed as a subscriber to the World Wide Words newsletter. It
contains useful information about subscription commands and e-mail
addresses to write to. Please keep a copy for reference.

It was last updated on 20 May 2002.

Contents
--------
1. About the World Wide Words list.
2. Contact addresses.
3. Subscription commands.
4. Back issues of the newsletter.
5. Subscribers' countries of origin.
6. Acknowledgements.


1. About the World Wide Words list
----------------------------------
The World Wide Words list distributes the weekly newsletters that
are written by Michael Quinion. The list is announce-only. That is,
subscribers can't post messages directly to the list. But Michael
Quinion is always very glad to receive feedback and comments on
what he writes and he often includes it in newsletters.


2. Contact addresses
--------------------
Now that World Wide Words has so many subscribers, problems with e-
mail have become significant. Every time a newsletter goes out,
Michael Quinion gets back large numbers of messages that contain
viruses. Also, each newsletter mailing triggers many automatic out-
of-office responses. In self-protection, he has set up a system
that allows subscribers to contact him as readily as they do now,
while greatly reducing the amount of unwanted material he has to
deal with.

Be assured that your comments and questions are as welcome as they
always have been!

If you want to respond to something in a newsletter, ask a question
for the Q&A section, or otherwise contact Michael Quinion, please
send it to one of the following addresses:

* Comments on newsletter mailings are always welcome. They should
  be sent to <editor at worldwidewords.org>.

* Questions intended to be answered in the Q&A section should be
  addressed to <qa at worldwidewords.org>.

* Problems with subscriptions that cannot be handled by the list
  server should go to <maillist at worldwidewords.org>.

Do not use the address that appears when you hit 'Reply:' on any
newsletter mailing, or your message will be sent to an electronic
dead-letter office. Either create a new message, or change the
outgoing 'To:' address to one of those above.

Please do not send attachments with messages: they will be deleted
unopened as a precaution against viruses.

Plain text messages are smaller and easier to read than those with
HTML formatting. Please turn off the HTML formatting of outgoing
messages if you know how.


3. Subscription commands
------------------------
Please do not send subscription commands to any of the addresses
above, or your request will to go an electronic dead-letter office.

To leave the list, change subscription address, or subscribe, visit
<http://www.worldwidewords.org/wordlist.htm>.

Alternatively, you can manage your subscription by sending e-mail
to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org>. Instructions must be put
in the body of the message (the subject line will be ignored).

* To leave the list, send:
     SIGNOFF WORLDWIDEWORDS

* To subscribe, send:
     SUBSCRIBE WORLDWIDEWORDS Your-first-name Your-last-name

* To obtain a list of commands, send:
     INFO WORLDWIDEWORDS

* To suspend receipt of newsletters, send:
     SET WORLDWIDEWORDS NOMAIL

* When you are want to receive newsletters again, send:
     SET WORLDWIDEWORDS MAIL

* To change your subscription address, send:
     CHANGE WORLDWIDEWORDS newaddr
  from your current address, replacing 'newaddr' with your new
  e-mail address. If you no longer have the old account, you
  will not be able to use the CHANGE command. In that case,
  SUBSCRIBE from the new address as above. Then e-mail Michael
  Quinion on <maillist at worldwidewords.org> and ask for the old
  address to be deleted.


4. Back issues of the newsletter
--------------------------------
Back issues of the newsletter are available from 7 March 1997. The
newsletters are usually sent weekly, but there are some holiday
gaps. The best way of getting them is to visit

  <http://www.worldwidewords.org/backissues.htm>,

where they are archived in monthly sets.

Issues after from the beginning of 1999 are also available in plain
text form from the list archive at

  <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/worldwidewords.html>

This is the better address if you want to get a copy of a very
recent mailing, as the World Wide Words archive is updated a month
in arrears. This archive is searchable.


5. Subscribers' countries of origin
-------------------------------------------------------------------
World Wide Words has 15,000+ subscribers in about 116 countries. It
is often difficult to know where subscribers come from, as the only
way to tell is through the country codes at the end of their e-mail
addresses. This useful system has largely broken down through the
large numbers of people with .com and .net addresses, which have
become de facto international codes.

These are the countries I know about, based on the country codes
(which include some territories as well as countries). If anybody
comes from another country, and would like to tell me about it so I
can boast about even wider circulation, please do!

  Algeria, American Samoa, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina,
  Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia,
  Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Cocos
  (Keeling) Island, Colombia, Commercial, Costa Rica,
  Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican
  Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Gambia,
  Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guyana,
  Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran,
  Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazachstan,
  Kenya, Korea (South), Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein,
  Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia,
  Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Mozambique, Namibia,
  Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand,
  Nicaragua, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua
  New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, French Polynesia,
  Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation,
  Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia (Slovak Rep), Slovenia,
  South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, St Kitts and Nevis, Sweden,
  Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and
  Tobago, Turkey, Turks & Caicos Islands, Ukraine, United
  Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay,
  Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (US),
  Western Samoa, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Comments on this list to <editor at worldwidewords.org>, please.


6. Acknowledgements
-------------------------------------------------------------------
World Wide Words is more than grateful to the LINGUIST LIST, which
hosts the mailing list on its LISTSERV system free of charge. And
each week the newsletter is read in draft by volunteer copy editor
Julane Marx (what errors exist, of course, are Michael Quinion's
responsibility; he has a habit of changing things after she has
reviewed the text!).