Listservs and the list
Below you will find answers to the following questions:-
The Flyfish list is a worldwide discussion group with flyfishing
as the topic. It is called a list because it is simply a mailing
list. The messages that form the discussion are sent as
electronic mail (email) to everyone on the mailing list. If you
subscribe to Flyfish, your name and computer address will simply
be added to the mailing list and you will automatically receive
electronic mail messages about flyfishing.
To subscribe to the Flyfish list, send an e-mail message to:
listserv@lsv.uky.edu
The text of the e-mail message should be:
subscribe flyfish John Smith
(Substitute your name instead of John Smith)
It is not necessary to specify a subject for this message. Be
sure to send this message to listserv@lsv.uky.edu and NOT to
flyfish@lsv.uky.edu which is used only for posting messages to
everyone on the list. The listserv address is used for
administrative messages such as subscriptions and is handled
automatically by a computer program which controls the list.
Once subscribed to the list, you may at some point wish to remove
yourself from the list. To do this, send an email message to:
listserv@lsv.uky.edu
The text of the message should be:
unsubscribe flyfish
It is not necessary to specify a subject for this message.
Again, please remember to send this message to
listserv@lsv.uky.edu and NOT to flyfish@lsv.uky.edu
Send a message to listserv@lsv.uky.edu, the body of the message should be one line,
set flyfish nomail
Send a message to listserv@lsv.uky.edu, the body of the message should be one line,
set flyfish mail
To post a message (to everyone on the list), simply send the
message to:
flyfish@lsv.uky.edu
Any message mailed to this address will automatically be sent by
the listserv program to everyone currently on the mailing list.
It helps to specify a brief, descriptive subject so that the
people on the list can read (or delete) their mail efficiently.
It also helps to end your message with your name and email
address, so that readers may respond to you directly when
desired.
To reply to a message, you must first decide whether you want to
reply only to the person that posted the message or to everyone
on the list. If you want to reply only to the one person, then
do not use the "reply" function in your mail program. That will
usually send your reply back to flyfish@lsv.uky.edu which will,
of course, result in it being sent to everyone on the list.
Instead, send your reply to his or her email address. This can
usually be obtained by examining the message to which you are
responding. Look for a signature at the end of the message or
look for a line in the message header beginning with "From: ".
Unfortunately, it is possible that your mail program will remove
such non-essential lines from the message header. Signing your
messages with your email address will assist others with this
same problem.
If you want your reply sent to everyone on the list, then send
your reply to:
flyfish@lsv.uky.edu
As with any message sent to this address, it will be distributed
to everyone on the list. It is helpful to specify the same
subject, preceeded by "Re:".
Most mail programs have a reply function which simplifies the
process of replying to a message. If you reply to a posted
message using your reply function, your reply will be sent back
to flyfish@lsv.uky.edu which is perfect if you want your reply
distributed to everyone on the list. This is how most people
reply to messages because there is no need to type in the list
address or the subject. This may not work for everyone; in rare
cases an overeducated mail program will ferret out the original
sender from the header and reply to that person rather than the
list, so you may have to do things the old fashioned way.
If you post a message to Flyfish, it is sent to everyone on the
list except you, the sender. If you want to receive your own
messages send a message to:
listserv@lsv.uky.edu
with the following line of text:
set flyfish repro
Most people prefer to see their own messages sent back to them,
if only as confirmation that the message actually was sent out
without any difficulties.
You can get the mail from the list sent to you in digest form. You
will then get one message per day (usually) which contains all of the
messages of the day. Just send the message:
set flyfish digests
to: listserv@lsv.uky.edu
If this is still too much for you, you may wish to signoff the list.
Save these instructions in case this happens to you.
This can happen for a number of reasons, sometimes problems with the listserver,
but more likely because you have been removed from the list. This will happen if
your e-mail address has changed, or you have been having problems with your e-mail. When
this occurs, every FF@ message sent to you will bounce back to the list. The software will
automatically delete subscribers with certain errors, and the list owner may be forced
to remove others with persistent problems.
The procdure to find out if you are still subscribed is simple.
Send a message to:
listserv@lsv.uky.edu
with the following line of text:
review flyfish
This will result in a file of all FF@ subscribers being sent to you. If you are not
on this list, then you should re-subscribe. If you are, then don't worry, things are just
quiet.
Sometimes people check by sending a message to the list asking if anyone else is getting messages.
If you see this, and you have been getting lots of FF messages as usual, e-mail
back DIRECTLY to the enquirer, not to the list. They have probably been
dropped from the list, and thus will not
get your helpful response, although everyone else will.
Yes, the old messages are archived. To get a list of archived files
send a message to: listserv@lsv.uky.edu
containing the text:
index flyfish
There is also a web site with powerful search capability
maintained by Joel Dunn, which allows keyword searching of the archives back to 1990.
To get an archived file, send a message to: listserv@lsv.uky.edu
containing the text:
get flyfish filename
(Substitute the name of the file you want to get for filename)
A short list of listserv commands will be sent to you if you send
the message:
help
to: listserv@lsv.uky.edu
For more information, check the
LISTSERV Users guide.
If you are reading this, you are already on the Net, but if you
wish to find an alternative provider, or
help a friend get on the net, check The List.
The list receives messages from non-subscribers. Often we see messages asking for
information on how to subscribe. To help these people, do not simply reply to them,
make sure that your message goes to their specific e-mail. Why? Because they are not
subscribed to the list, and will not get any reply sent to the list (although 1000+
listmembers will).
If you have difficulties subscribing, resigning, or posting to the
Flyfish list, please direct your questions to the listowner and not
to the list. There is no need to clutter the mailboxes of subscribers
with such questions. The listowner will be happy to help you.
The listowner is Danny Walls (E-mail:-
AGRDANNY@POP.UKY.EDU)