This is an e-mail automatically sent to the MacGroup mailing list once per
month. It contains some administrivia about list usage. It is always available
at the list's Web page
<http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup/>
Additional questions about list management should be send to macgroup-owner at
erdos.math.louisville.edu.
Here are the questions. To find the answer, search on [n], where n is the
number of the question.
1. How do I unsubscribe from MacGroup or MacGroup-Digest?
2. How do I subscribe to MacGroup or MacGroup-Digest?
3. What's the difference between MacGroup and MacGroup Digest?
4. How do I post messages to the lists?
5. What kinds of messages can be posted to the lists?
6. I just posted to the list. Why did my message not appear?
7. How about attachments?
8. Is there an archive of past messages?
9. Will you give me a list of all subscribers to the lists?
10. How many subscribers are there?
11. Are the lists hosted on a Macintosh?
12. I do not seem to be getting all the list messages. Why?
[1] How do I unsubscribe from MacGroup?
There are several ways to do so.
The easiest is to visit the Web page for the list.
<http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup>
Near the bottom of the page is a field into which you can put the address you
wish to remove from the roster.
The second way is to send a command to Mailman, the software that serves the
list. This is done by sending it an e-mail message. Using the account you wish
to unsubscribe, send a message to
macgroup-leave at erdos.math.louisville.edu
Sending your message to the standard list address will do nothing except annoy
all the other members of the list. The content of your message is unimportant.
The return address on your message must be in the database of
subscribers, so send the message from the same account you use to receive
mail from the list. You should get an acknowledgement from the Mailman software
a short time after you unsubscribe. If this acknowledgement does not appear,
something went wrong.
If you change your e-mail address, please remember to unsubscribe from your
old one and subscribe under your new address.
If you just abandon an e-mail account, please unsubscribe before you do so. An
abandoned e-mail address generates annoying error messages, and the list's
moderator must unsubscribe you by hand. This annoys him.
[2] How do I subscribe to MacGroup.
Anyone can subscribe to the MacGroup list and there are several ways to do so.
The easiest is to visit the Web page for the list.
<http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup>
There's a form near the top of of the page for you to complete.
The second way is to send a command to Mailman, the software that serves the
list. This is done by sending it an e-mail message. Using the account you wish
to subscribe, send a message to
macgroup-join at erdos.math.louisville.edu
Sending your message to the standard list address will do nothing and it will
be discarded.
You should get an acknowledgement from the Mailman software a short time after
you subscribe. If this acknowledgement does not appear, something went wrong.
[3] What's the difference between MacGroup and MacGroup Digest?
Both have the same content. Subscribers to MacGroup get the messages one at a
time, as they are sent. Subscribers to MacGroup Digest get all the messages
since the previous digest as one long message. You can choose which form you
prefer on the list Web page
<http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup>
There is a field near the bottom of the page where you enter the email address
at which you are subscribed and then click the button labeled "Unsubscribe or
edit options."
[4] How do I post messages to the lists?
To post a message to the discussion lists, just send an ordinary email message
to macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu. This message will be automatically
distributed to all 250+ subscribers. Only subscribers are allowed to post
messages, so be sure to send the message from the same email address you use to
receive messages from the list. If the return address on the message is not in
the subscriber list, the message will be rejected.
There is no moderation on the lists, so be careful what you post. When your
message is sent, it will be immediately forwarded to all list subscribers.
There are a few nuances to posting that are sometimes nuisances.
First, the list management software, Mailman, is set to look for certain key
words in the subject of messages to avoid administrative commands being posted
to the list. These include words such as subscribe and unsubscribe. Messages
posted with these key words in the subject are likely to be rejected.
Second, only those subscribed to the list may post to the list. All other
messages are rejected. The way Mailman determines membership is from the
sender's e-mail address. So, if you want to post to the list, you should send
the message from the same account at which you receive mail from the list. (Or
set your mail software to have an appropriate return address.) The reason for
this requirement is to keep the spammers off the list.
[5] What kinds of messages can be posted to the list?
Any message that concerns Macintosh computers. The connection can even be quite
tenuous. This includes computer items for sale and commercial events and
seminars with Macintosh themes. Buying, selling and trading software is
allowed, as long as the transaction is legal. When in doubt, ask first; the
answer will probably be to go ahead and post it.
The list is closed to general spam mail, and we have gone to some trouble in
our efforts to keep spam off this list. We do not consider advertising for
Mac-related products to be spam, in the context of the MacGroup list.
[6] I just posted to the list. Why did my message not appear?
The usual reason for this is that the return address on your posting is not the
account at which you are subscribed. Most of the time this happens because
somebody subscribes with their home address and tries to post with their work
address, or vice versa. To cut down on spammers, only list subscribers are
allowed to post.
In a few cases, the message is rejected by the Majordomo software for technical
reasons. The most common of these is the message exceeding the 40,000 character
limit.
[7] How about attachments?
Attachments are discouraged because the digest cannot handle them.
[8] Is there an archive of past messages?
There is a comprehensive archive going back to September 2001 at
<http://www.math.louisville.edu/pipermail/macgroup/>
[9] Will you give me a listing of all subscribers to the lists?
No.
[10] How many subscribers are there?
On September 1, 2007, MacGroup had 257 subscribers.
[11] Are the lists hosted on a Macintosh?
Unfortunately, no, although they could easily be hosted on Mac OS X. The
current hardware is a Linux server with four dual core Xeon processors. The
software is Mailman, an open source mailing list manager.
[12] I do not seem to be getting all the list messages. Why?
Some Internet service providers have installed spam filters that are overly
aggressive. For some reason, they identify seemingly random messages from
MacGroup as spam. If you're having this problem, you'll have to complain to
your ISP because there's little we can do.
Full mailboxes are another common reason why mail fails to reach subscribers.
After a half-dozen bounce messages, the Mailman software will automatically
unsubscribe you.
1-September-2007
