TONY@YORKVM2.BITNET (A. M. (Tony) Cichan) (02/12/90)
First, my aplogies to those who already know what I'm going to say, and
thanks for bearing with me, I hope its worth the trouble (mine and yours).
This is addressed to:
Chris Karras RKARRAS@PENNSAS.UPENN.EDU
Dennis Taga T501184@UHCCMVS.BITNET
R.Williams Jr. RWILLIAM@UVMVM.BITNET
Henry Sakata T001020@UHCCMVS.BITNET
Karl A. Johnson 3MECZLX@CMUVM.BITNET
and to all those other subscribers of this list (WP50-L) who are not aware
of how a List Server works.
You had used the Reply feature of your E-mail system to respond to an offer
for a reprint of a news letter. How do I know? We all know! All two or
three hundred (or more) of the subscribers to the WP50-L list!
The point is, that the mail you receive does not come from the originator
(such as myself and this note), instead it comes from the Server. In this
case the Server is LISTSERV@UBVM. The Server receives messages sent to the
WP50-L list and re-sends them to ALL the subscribers of the list.
So when you used the Reply option of your E-mail system it sent your reply
to the Server which in turn sent your message to ALL the subscribers of
WP50-L.
I would guess that most of the subscribers did not want to know about
your request nor what your postal address is. And I think that you did not
intend it to happen that way. But I'm just guessing.
What you should have done, is to to note the E-mail address of the
person who made the generous offer of free information. Then send
your message directly to that individual at their E-mail address. Yes,
a little more effort, but the rest of us would appreciate it.
I should also advise you that when you send E-mail to the List, although
everyone else gets a copy of it, you, the originator, do not get a copy.
(unless you have purposely commanded the Server to echo back your
E-mail message to you, a feature which you can adjust at will).
Here is a little more information to help you out:
There are many Servers operating on many computers all over the world.
Most Servers support a number of discussion lists just like this one (WP50-L).
For more information you can send the following commands from your system
prompt (or talk to your local node administrator, but not me cause "I ain't
gonna help no more."):
For the document BITNET USERHELP:
TELL NETSERV AT BITNIC GET BITNET USERHELP
or
TELL LISTSERV AT MARIST GET BITNET USERHELP
For the document MAIL MANNERS:
TELL LISTSERV AT BITNIC SENDME MAIL MANNERS
For network info and help at your site:
TELL LISTSERV AT BITNIC SENDME INFOREP LISTINGS
I also suggest that you subscribe to the E-mail magazine NetMonth:
TELL LISTSERV AT MARIST SUB NETMONTH your_full_name
All the above commands use the syntax for VM/CMS systems, if you
are on a VAX/VMS/JNET sytem your message would look like this:
SEND LISTSERV@BITNIC "SENDME BITNET USERHELP"
One last caution, keep in mind the difference between a Server (such as
LISTSERV@UBVM) and a discussion List (such as WP50-L@UBVM). You send
COMMANDs to the Server and E-MAIL MESSAGEs to the List.
-----------=========================-------------
A. M. (Tony) Cichan TONY@YORKVM2 (416)736-5147
Department of Facilities Planning and Management
York University, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaCOONS@GECRDVM1.BITNET (William E. Coons) (02/12/90)
>What you should have done, is to to note the E-mail address of the >person who made the generous offer of free information. Then send >your message directly to that individual at their E-mail address. Yes, >a little more effort, but the rest of us would appreciate it. Actually, it's a little easier than that. Instead of pressing the PF key for reply or typing reply on the command line, type REPLY FROM on the command line and your response will only go to the originator and not the list. Bill Coons GE Corporate Research & Development coons@gecrdvm1 (518)387-6087