** Sender Unknown ** (05/28/91)
Welcome to comp.dcom.telecom / TELECOM Digest
---------------------------------------------
This is a periodic posting to readers of the comp.dcom.telecom
newsgroup to let you know a little about the group and how to go about
posting here.
'Telecom' is a moderated newsgroup, meaning that all submissions must
be routed through the Moderator for approval, editing, sorting and
final posting. Unlike an umoderated group where you can <f>ollow up
direct to the group with your article, moderated newsgroups will not
accept your posting direct. Although you may respond to indvidual
writers by email, all postings or follow ups to the newsgroup must be
sent by email to 'telecom@eecs.nwu.edu'.
TELECOM Digest and comp.dcom.telecom are one and the same. The Digest
is a mailing list sent to people who do not receive net news or who
prefer to read the Digest (single long message with several articles)
version. Messages in the Digest are the identical messages you read
here in this newsgroup, single message style. At the time each issue
of the Digest is mailed out (usually there are two or three issues
each day) a copy is 'burst' into individual messages and gatewayed to
Usenet for the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup where they are available at
about the same time the mailing list copies are delivered. Which
version you recieve is up to you. Write and ask if you wish to be
added to the mailing list version.
TELECOM Digest is a news and discussion forum on subjects relating to
telecommunications in general and voice telephony in particular. The
messages range from tecnical in nature to questions and answers for
novices. Comments about telephone company services and operations are
welcome, however we are unable to print any messages containing
information which could be used to defraud telephone companies or long
distance carriers. We have to prohibit 'phreaking' information in
order to legally protect the many sites and networks which carry this
newsgroup and/or TELECOM Digest.
In addtion to comp.dcom.telecom on Usenet, TELECOM Digest is
distributed around the world by email and other networks. Copies are
sent to several email services including MCI Mail, AT&T Mail,
GTE/Sprint Mail, Compuserve and others. The Digest is available on
several BBS', including the Net Exchange, a service for PC Pursuit
subscribers. It is distributed by many FIDO-linked bulletin boards
throughout the USA. We have approximatly 50,000 readers throughout the
world.
Please help reduce bandwidth:
=============================
*Before you reply to an article you see here*, please read *all*
messages in the group. If someone else has responded, please do not
send your own response unless you have something substantially
different to say, or some correction which must be made. Unfortunatly,
because of the volume of mail received, I am only able to print at
best about half of what is received daily, and sometimes even less.
More people can have a chance to participate if you will hold
repetitive replies to a minimum. Please try to edit your message
according to the style in which you see other messages appearing here.
Messages which require the *least* editing work are more likely to be
used. Make sure you have a relevant, descriptive header attached to
your message. Observe previous headers, and make your REply header
match exactly!
Other newsgroups we are affiliated with:
========================================
Telecom Privacy
Because of the large volume of mail received on the topic of
Caller*ID, we have an 'overflow' mailing list just for that purpose.
The Digest/comp.dcom.telecom prints *news and technical comments*
about Caller*ID. We request that political and social commentaries on
this volatile topic be addressed to 'telecom-priv@pica.army.mil'. This
list was started just for the topic of telecommunications privacy.
=> To subscribe, write the moderator: telecom-priv-request@pica.army.mil
Computer Undergound Digest
Likewise, the social and legal ramifications of 'hacking' and 'phreaking'
have been hot topics of discussion. CuD began as a 'side-discussion'
of these topics in the Digest, and now is an email publication in its
own right.
=> To be added to the mailing list or submit articles, write the
moderator: tk0jut2@niu.bitnet.
Articles sent to comp.dcom.telecom which more appropriatly belong in
one of the two above categories are automatically forwarded by myself.
The Auto-ACK shows your article was received:
=============================================
Most of you will receive an auto-reply 'form letter' when you write to
telecom@eecs.nwu.edu. Sometimes it does not work right and you may
not get a reply, but usually you will. Due to the volume of mail
received, I am unable to answer personal questions/comments about
telephony except in the Digest itself. If your article cannot be used
for some reason, I will try to return it or at least send you a note
explaining why it cannot be used. This will probably be a form letter
also. If you do not get the ACK, *and* you do not see your article
*and* you do not get a reply from me within a week, please write and
ask if your article was received. DO NOT send a duplicate copy unless
I ask for it.
Back issues / other files in Telecom Archives
=============================================
To obtain back issues of TELECOM Digest (ten year's worth!) and obtain
dozens of other telecom files of interest, visit the Telecom Archives.
This collection of material was started in 1981 and contains
everything you ever wanted to know about the US phone system, and a
lot more. [ Well, almost everything :) If it hasn't appeared in this
newsgroup in the last few years, then it wasn't worth knowing about! :)
"All the telecom news that fits, we print", and all that! :) ]
If at an Internet site: ftp lcs.mit.edu
login anonymous give name@site as password
cd telecom-archives
dir the main and several sub-directories
For UUCP/Bitnet/others: use an archives mail server, such as the one
at bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu
The massive amount of space needed to maintain the Telecom Archives
was donated by and is maintained by MIT and Mike Patton of their
staff. My thanks to MIT for their help.
Other stuff:
============
TELECOM Digest was founded by Jon Solomon in August, 1981. I've been
the Moderator/producer/editor/facilitator since the summer of 1988. I
live in Chicago, and work from accounts provided to me by the
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Northwestern
University, Evanston, IL. As one of the larger users of mail and news
on delta.eecs.nwu.edu, I thank the folks involved for their patience
and resources.
To contact me:
telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (for submissions to Digest)
telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu (for administrivia; mailing list stuff, etc)
ptownson@eecs.nwu.edu (personal NON-TELECOM mail to me
ptownson@bucs.bu.edu (ditto)
ptownson@eris.berkeley.edu (ditto)
0002224956@mcimail.com (ditto)
ptownson@attmail.com (ditto)
patrick@chinet.chi.il.us (ditto)
SNAIL: POB 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 Voicemail: 708-518-6335 (Ext. 1)
That's it! Enjoy the TELECOM Digest/comp.dcom.telecom!