rgreene@ricecsvm.rice.edu (Bob Greene) (08/07/90)
FYI: Montly informational mailing: "What is Sunspots?"
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Welcome to the Sunspots mailing list. As of this point in time,
your subscription request has been accepted and you are now
a full fledged member. This message provides information which
may be of use in the future, so please take a few moments to
review it.
o What is Sunspots?
Sunspots is a electronic forum for exchanging information about
the systems made by Sun Microsystems. In particular, information
about the Hardware, Software, Operating System (SunOS), Windowing
Systems, Networking Issues, Source Code, and other Miscellaneous
Topics are open for discussion on this forum. Discussions take
the form of electronic messages submitted by readers around the
world. These are compiled into digests by topic and sent out as
volume merits (generally 7-10 times per week).
o How does the Sunspots digest relate to the Usenet group 'comp.sys.sun'?
The Usenet group comp.sys.sun is a reflection of the articles
in Sunspots. Each medium has it's advantages. The Usenet group boasts
a much more rapid turnaround (approximately 24 hours from submission
to posting) but lacks much of the structure of the Digest. The Digest
on the other hand, is more structured with it's breakdown by topic
area. Technically speaking, the Digest also serves those sites which
are unable to receive Usenet news. The Digest is available on
BITNET, Internet, and over the UUCP network via normal mail routes.
o How do I submit to Sunspots?
The procedure to submit to Sunspots is relatively simple. If you are
reading the Usenet group comp.sys.sun, your news system should take
care of routing your submission, and you can submit to Sunspots
(comp.sys.sun) simply by using the normal post routines. If you are
a Digest reader, you may simply mail your submission to the address
'sun-spots@rice.edu' (Note that Usenet news readers may use this
address to submit to comp.sys.sun also).
o What address should be used for administrative affairs?
If you need to discuss an administrative issue with the Moderator
such as editorial policies and additions/deletions from the subscription
list, you should mail your request to the address
'sun-spots-request@rice.edu'. If the issue demands an immediate
response, the moderator can also be emailed to directly at either
'spots@rice.edu' or 'rgreeneb@ricevm1.rice.edu'.
o What are the Sunspots archives?
The Sunspots archives are a set of FTP-able archives that are stored
on titan.rice.edu (128.42.1.30). These include the back issues of
the Digest (thru v5), any source submitted to the Digest, icons
submitted to the Digest and Sparc soundfiles submitted to the Digest.
All of these may be retrieved by using standard anonymous FTP commands.
Additionally, any file archived may also be retrieved from sites
which do not have anonymous FTP capability by using the Rice archive
server. In order to get more detailed information on the use of the
archive server, send the single word message "HELP" to the address
'archive-server@rice.edu'.
o Is there a commonly asked questions file for Sunspots?
Not yet - however, this is being compiled and will be ready soon.
o Sometimes when I submit articles to Sunspots, they are rejected
o for submission, but no explanation is sent - why is this?
Due to the huge volume of submissions to Sunspots, sometimes articles
are rejected without explanation - I will usuallly attempt to send
a brief note explaining the reason however. For the sake of cutting
back on inappropriate submissions - some of the things that will make
an article be rejected are:
* Articles so badly worded that the meaning of the original message
is impossible to retrieve.
* Articles that should be submitted to a more appropriate newsgroup.
* Articles from manafacturers of a product attempting to solicit that
product across the net.
* Articles which duplicate questions or answers which have already
been asked in this forum (especially recent questions). This means
that sometimes multiple people will suggest the same answer to a
question - in this case, I post the one that seems to be the most
informative, and if they are all equal the one that was submitted
first.
o What do you mean by more appropriate newsgroup?
Here are some of the commonly misposted types of articles:
* Forsale ads: these should be directed to the Usenet group
misc.forsale.
* Articles regarding the Sun-386i: these should be directed
to the Sun-386i mailing list (sun-386i@rice.edu). Note that
anything in this category submitted to Sunspots will be automatically
resubmitted to the Sun-386i list.
* General Unix Questions: these should be directed to the Usenet
groups comp.unix.{wizards,novices,etc}.
* Questions about other systems: these should be directed to either
that system's mailing list (usually info-sysname) or to it's Usenet
group (comp.sys.sys-name)
o What other sources of Sun related information exist?
There are several:
* Sun-386i Mailing List: This list covers issues related to the
Sun-386i. Submissions to 'sun-386i@rice.edu' and subscription
requests to 'sun-386i-request@rice.edu'.
* Sun-Managers Mailing List: This list covers issues of special
interest to managers of sites using Sun workstations or
fileservers. Submissions to 'sun-managers@rice.edu' and subscription
requests to 'sun-managers-request@rice.edu'.
* Sun-Nets Mailing List: This list covers articles regarding networking
Suns together (both with themselves and other machine types).
Submissions to 'sun-nets@brillig.umd.edu' and subscription requests
to 'sun-nets-request@
Again, thank you for your interest in and contributions to the Sunspots
Digest. If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to contact me.
Bob Greene RGREENEB@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU
Sunspots (comp.sys.sun) RGREENEB@RICEVM1.BITNET
Moderator ...!rice!ricevm1!rgreeneb
Sunspots Submissions: sun-spots@rice.edu
Sunspots Subscriptions: sun-spots-request@rice.edu
Sunspots Moderator: spots@rice.edu <or> rgreeneb@ricevm1.rice.edu
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End of SUN-Spots Digest
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