What a day for listservs!  It looks like it is a good time for some comments
on how listservs work, how to subscribe and unsubscribe, personal replies
versus list replies, and the problems of attachments and viruses.

Spam and commercial postings
The unexpected and unwelcome commercial ad  that just appeared on CLICK4HP
had no relationship at all to the unfortunate Homepage virus circulation.
Only subscribers can post to the list, so it is likely that 'Jia Chen'
subscribed and did a mass circulation spam.  That subscriber has been
deleted from the list, and could be blocked from subscribing - but the
moderators do not have a setup that requires 'approval' of new subscribers.
In the five years of CLICK4HP, there has only been one other instance of a
commercial posting. Not a bad track record!

Attachments and viruses
The Homepage worm/virus, while quite annoying, and causing unnecessary
humiliation of the unwitting sender (the senders are quite unaware that they
have sent messages with the virus in it to everyone in their address list),
does *not* change listservers or damage computer parts, memory or any
programs.  Please be patient and do not send more messages to the list about
the virus, unless you have quick and easy solutions to share.

One of the real problems for listservs is attachments.  It is bad practice
for anyone to send any attachments to an email listserv. The most obvious,
and recent problem of attachments is that they can carry viruses.  Email
messages by themselves rarely have viruses - but attachments are the
culprit.  If you receive a message with an attachment and it is not
expected, is an executable program (has.exe as extension) or has .vbs as an
extension you should NOT open it at all. Practically speaking, attachments
create difficulties for many people who are downloading their email
messages, paying by the minute, and faced with a document or attachment that
is unsolicited and possibly not of relevance.  The application used for the
attachment is unlikely to be universally available to everyone on a list.
Please - do not send attachments, and do not open attachments.  The list
moderators will look into the feasibility of blocking messages with
attachments.

Replying to the sender and/or the list
Recently we have had a few messages posted to CLICK4HP that have been
personal in nature, obviously intended to go directly to someone that the
sender is replying to.  Although you may receive a message that has gone to
the list, that appears to have the name of the person in the 'from' line -
if you select 'Reply' the address line will be to the entire listserv.  If
you wish to directly reach the person who wrote a message - please copy
their email address down, and create a new message to that person.

Removing unnecessary text
If you are replying to a message posted to the list, please delete the text
of the previous message (or keep only the phrase or sentence that you are
commenting upon).  We do not need to have extra long copies of previous
messages.  If you are having difficulty in removing text from previous
messages, either start a new message with a similar title, or contact the
list-facilitators for assistance. We can be reached easily at
[log in to unmask]

Unsubscribing or managing your subscription
  If you wish to unsubscribe, or to set your mail to 'nomail' (and continue
as a member of the list, able to post and review the archives at
http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/click4hp.html) then send your command
message to the listserver - not to the list.
The email address of the ListServer is  <[log in to unmask]>  Be sure to
leave the Subject line blank and in the body of the message type in

unsubscribe click4hp

or
  set click4hp nomail
or
  set click4hp digest

And if you have any questions or concerns - please contact the
list-facilitators!  We can be reached as a group by sending to
<[log in to unmask]>

Lets keep the discussion flowing!

Alison Stirling, co-facilitator for Click4HP


-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy Dubois [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 12:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: LOW COST Computer Troubleshooting & Upgrade Service!


Can our moderator do anything to eliminate this kind of posting that no
doubt arose from the recent Homepage virus circulation?


-----Original Message-----
From: Health Promotion on the Internet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of Jia Chen
Sent: May 10, 2001 11:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: LOW COST Computer Troubleshooting & Upgrade Service!