OTA@S1-A@sri-unix (05/12/82)
From: Ted Anderson <OTA at S1-A> I guess I should refresh everyone's memory on how the digest is distributed. People occasionally complain about the funny digests that come out containing nothing but a request to be added to the list. The reason this sort of thing happens is that the digest is processed automatically every night at 3AM pacific time. Everything that has arrived by then is gathered together, massaged into digest format, and mailed out. All without a smidgen of human intervention. This has the advantage that the show goes on even if I go home early or take a day or two off or whatever. The disadvantage is that a certain amount of junk gets out. Normally, however, the density of special requests that mistakenly get sent to the digest distribution is low, so this isn't much of a problem. The biggest thing you can do is to make sure everyone you tell about this list, knows that requests of all sorts (as distinct from digest submissions) should be sent to SPACE-REQUEST @ MIT-MC and not to space@mc. Note that I do have the ability to hold everything that comes in and go over it personally. I usually have to use the "manual" mode when we get a spate of questionable messages. Fortunately this does not happen often. Please feel free to let me know what you think of this procedure. I'm always willing to entertain suggests and answer questions. Ted Anderson (The Moderator)