===================== ACCMAIL Monthly Reminder =======================
Posted 01 Sep 2004
This message is intended to inform you what to do before posting to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
the mailing list discussing "Accessing the Internet via Email".
PLEASE NOTE
In August 2003, after many years dedicated service to the ACCMAIL
community, Mr Gerald Boyd retired as maintainer of the ACCMAIL FAQ.
Some of the documents listed in this section will therefore gradually
become outdated. However, the moderators of the list will do their
best to ensure that this monthly reminder is a useful resource.
Meanwhile, if you have questions about the FAQ please send them to the
ACCMAIL list, not to Mr Boyd's private email address.
======================================================================
PURPOSE
This list exists as a forum for communicating news, comments and
questions about the FAQ with the same name, written by Gerald E. Boyd.
This is the place to find out about new versions, ask questions about
the current version, make suggestions for additions/deletions, etc.
Note: ACCMAIL is a MODERATED list, which means that all postings will
be sent to a human for review before being posted to the list.
Read the FAQs that are available.
======================================================================
GUIDE TO OFFLINE INTERNET ACCESS
"Accessing The Internet By E-Mail" from Gerald E. Boyd
To get the latest version in English, send a blank email to
accmail.faq.en `AT` szs.net
(replacing `AT` with @ to form a proper email address).
You can also get the file by anonymous FTP at one of these sites:
Site 1: rtfm.mit.edu
get pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email
Site 2: ftp.mailbase.ac.uk
get pub/lists/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt
On the WWW
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet-services/access-via-email/
Other languages
Esperanto: http://purl.oclc.org/net/a-reiner/esperanto/accmail/
======================================================================
USENET
To learn about Usenet, Usenet access and newsgroups, Uzi Paz provides
a file that is invaluable.
Send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and in the body of the
message use ONE of the following:
send http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Lab/1131/ua.txt (75 kb)
send http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Lab/1131/ua.zip (39 kb)
(The zip version is sent as UU-encoded attachment. If your email
program cannot open it, save it and open with a uuencode program. The
text version is much less trouble.)
======================================================================
JUNO ACCMAIL
If you are a Juno mail user, then also subscribe to the Juno_accmail
mailing list:
TO: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
SUBJECT: subscribe
BODY leave blank
List Archive: http://www.freelists.org/archives/juno_accmail/
======================================================================
SOLOCORREO
If your first language is Spanish, then also subscribe to the
Solocorreo mailing list: "... es destinada a discutir, debatir, etc,
los métodos de acceso a Internet utilizando solamente el e-mail":
Para suscribirte: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Página principal: http://www.eListas.net/lista/solocorreo/
======================================================================
ACCMAILRUS
If your first language is Russian, then also subscribe to the
ACCMAILRUS mailing list:
Home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/accmailrus/
Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
======================================================================
WWW-TO-EMAIL SERVER STATISTICS
On the Web at http://www.netservs.com/mrcool/stats.htm
or email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
get file stats.txt
as the message body
======================================================================
SUBJECT LINES
Mail should have a meaningful subject heading which reflects the
content of the message -- it helps others to find messages of interest
(and is necessary if you receive a lot of messages per day), and it
helps to follow a thread on a particular topic.
Non-meaningful subjects are:
1. empty or blank subjects
2. Subject: I need help
3. Subject: A question
4. Subject: Re: ACCMAIL Digest ....
======================================================================
OFF-TOPIC
Make sure your post isn't off-topic. In particular, this mailing list
does NOT deal with topics like:
- I want to chat with someone.
- Hi, I'm new to the list and I want to make friends.
- General use of your computer.
- Where do I get this or that software -- instead ask how to retrieve
it via email.
- Where do I find information on ??? -- instead ask how do I find
information concerning ??? via email.
- Windows 95/98/NT problems -- instead ask where do I find information
regarding a problem (email address, mailing list, web page. etc.)
======================================================================
NETIQUETTE
DON'T include the entire contents of a previous posting in your reply.
DO cut mercilessly. Leave just enough to indicate what you're
responding to. NEVER include mail headers except maybe the "From:"
line. If you can't figure out how to delete lines in your mailer
software, paraphrase or type the quoted material in.
DON'T SEND A MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS. CAPITALIZED MESSAGES ARE HARDER TO
READ THAN LOWER CASE OR MIXED CASE.
DO use normal capitalization. Separate your paragraphs with blank
lines. Make your message inviting to your potential readers.
DON'T send messages with HTML coding or MIME extensions.
DO learn how to change your email program so that it sends only plain
text ASCII to the list.
Make things easy for the recipient. Many mailers strip header
information which includes your return address. In order to ensure
that people know who you are, be sure to include a line or two at the
end of your message with contact information. You can create this
file ahead of time and add it to the end of your messages. (Some
mailers do this automatically.) In Internet parlance, this is known
as a ".sig" or "signature" file. Your .sig file takes the place of
your business card. (And you can have more than one to apply in
different circumstances.)
If you include a signature keep it short. Rule of thumb is no longer
than 4 lines. Remember that many people pay for connectivity by the
minute, and the longer your message is, the more they pay.
Remember that people with whom you communicate are located across the
globe. If you send a message to which you want an immediate response,
the person receiving it might be at home asleep when it arrives. Give
them a chance to wake up, come to work, and login before assuming the
mail didn't arrive or that they don't care.
In general, most people who use the Internet don't have time to answer
general questions about the Internet and its workings. Don't send
unsolicited mail asking for information to people whose names you
might have seen on mailing lists.
ACCMail messages may be archived on websites that are vulnerable to
spambots and other email harvesters. The AOL listserv archive is
protected, but we do not know where else the messages might appear.
When posting or replying to the list, we strongly advise you to munge
all email addresses you mention in the text of your message,
especially if they are not yours. For example, instead of typing an
email address as "[EMAIL PROTECTED]", type it like one of the following:
user#domain.com
user()domain.com
user AT domain DOT com
Spambots will not see an email address, but human readers will know
what you mean. Don't munge email addresses in the FROM, TO, CC, BCC
email headers - your message will fail if you do!
======================================================================
DIGEST AND SINGLE POSTINGS
If you wish to receive the digest version of ACCMAIL (that is, all
postings combined together and sent out at the end of each day):
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [leave blank]
body of the message
SET ACCMAIL DIGEST
If you wish to receive the individual postings to ACCMAIL (that is,
each posting as it is approved in a separate message):
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [leave blank]
body of the message
SET ACCMAIL NODIGESTS
or
SET ACCMAIL MAIL
======================================================================
LIST ARCHIVES AND SEARCH
To access the ACCMAIL archives (stored on a weekly basis), email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] and, in the body of your message, enter
INDEX ACCMAIL
This will return a list of the available files which can be retrieved
by sending a command like this in the BODY of your next email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
GET ACCMAIL LOGyymmn
where "yy" is the year, "mm" is the month, and "n" is an alpha
character representing the week number (a for 1, b for 2, etc)
Example: to get the archives for week 2 of June 2002, request
GET ACCMAIL LOG0206B
To search the archives, use the SEARCH command, eg: to search the
archives for "www4mail" and "cookies", request
SEARCH www4mail cookies in ACCMAIL
The response is a list of numbered messages, followed by one-line
extracts containing the search words. You can get these messages by
requesting the post by number, eg:
GETPOST ACCMAIL 1021
======================================================================
OTHER
If you have had good luck with a piece of email software or other
software that works well, please inform the list. Likewise, for
support and help lines.
ACCMAIL uses LISTSERV "topics", which allows people to subscribe to a
subset of postings. If you have any postings that are important
announcements about new servers, new techniques, etc, please prefix
the subject line with NEWS:
If you considered all these files and comments, your post will likely
be very welcome on ACCMAIL and everybody will try to help you with
your problems.
If not, you're likely to get a short answer referencing one of the
files mentioned here, or sometimes no answer at all!
============================= END ====================================
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To contribute to the discussion, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe, email to the *admin* address [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with UNSUBSCRIBE ACCMAIL as the message body.
To get the latest version of the ACCMAIL FAQ, send a blank email to
accmail.faq.en `AT` szs.net (replacing `AT` with @ to form a proper
email address).
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