Some of you may recall from the announcement of the Mark Twain Forum
that I was administering the list manually until I was able to put it on
a LISTSERV. I'm pleased to announce that the transition to LISTSERV
happened here at York University today. The Forum will continue to
function as before, with the only change being in the e-mail addresses
that are associated with the Forum. (If you look at the message header
above, for example, you'll see that this message does not originate from
[log in to unmask], as did previous Forum messages.)
At the end of this message, the new instructions are appended. You can
ignore the instructions about how to subscribe to the Forum, because if
you're receiving this message, you're already subscribed. The
information about subscribing, however, WILL be needed by new
subscribers. If you tell your colleagues about the MT Forum, please
give them the instructions below--not the previous instructions for
subscribing. I will still periodically sign on to [log in to unmask] to
check for stragglers and manually subscribe them, but otherwise the
TWAIN account will not be used anymore.
The only two e-mail addresses that are needed to use the Forum now are
[log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] The latter is used only
for SUBSCRIBE/SIGNOFF commands, while [log in to unmask] will play the
role formerly played by [log in to unmask] (i.e., it will redistribute
the Forum messages to all the subscribers). Of course, I can still be
contacted personally at my own e-mail address, [log in to unmask]
I apologize for the slight confusion that may initially be caused by
this change, but it was inevitable, and will in fact be beneficial to
everyone. The benefit to me is that it will be easier to maintain the
technical aspects of the list, and this will naturally benefit everyone
in the Mark Twain Forum, as it will operate more smoothly than before.
More specifically, however, there are several advantages to subscribers
by having the MT Forum on LISTSERV:
1. Thousands of e-mail discussion lists are already on LISTSERV, and so
TWAIN-L will now conform to a well-known standard of operation. Indeed,
the experienced e-mailers already subscribed here will no doubt welcome
this change, since it brings the MT Forum into line with other such
electronic discussion lists.
2. Messages sent by subscribers to TWAIN-L will be immediately
redistributed to everyone on the list. Similarly, requests for new
subscriptions and signoffs will be handled immediately. Under the old
system, it could have taken several hours for your subscription to be
added, or your message to be redistributed, since I had to log on to
perform these tasks manually. [log in to unmask] is generally
available at any time of the day or night.
3. You may personalize your subscription options, which was impossible
under the old system. For example, the names and e-mail addresses of
subscribers here are currently available to anyone who issues the
command REVIEW TWAIN-L in a message to [log in to unmask] If for
some reason you don't want people to know that you're subscribed to this
list, you can issue a CONCEAL command which will conceal your name from
people who REVIEW the list. There are several such options available.
To receive a document that introduces LISTSERV and how to manipulate it
(beyond what's outlined at the end of this message), send a message to
[log in to unmask] with the single line, INFO GENINTRO.
Peronalized subscription options were impossible with the old system.
4. A notebook file containing the archives of messages in the MT Forum
has been set up here on the LISTSERV, and it may be retrieved by anyone.
(See a copy of the aforenamed document for instructions on how to do
this.) If you wanted to review a discussion that took place six months
ago, for example, you could just get the appropriate notebook from
LISTSERV. Or, if you were a new subscriber, you could browse through
the old notebooks to see what had been discussed.
These are only a few of the advantages of the conversion to LISTSERV, so
I think you'll agree that the change has been worthwhile. I know that
some of you are new to e-mail, and so if I've used some jargon that
isn't clear, or if you have questions or suggestions, please let me
know. It might be a good idea to address your message not to my
address, but instead to TWAIN-L. That way, it'll be redistributed to
the other MT Forum subscribers, and everyone can benefit from your
question.
Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the kind cooperation of the postmasters
here at York for setting up TWAIN-L. I'm also grateful for the
assistance of Rick Broadhead <[log in to unmask]>; he's been behind
the scenes at the Forum since its inception, and he has answered many
technical questions. Thanks, Rick!
(The new Forum instructions are appended below.)
I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Regards,
Taylor Roberts
TWAIN-L list owner
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To subscribe to this list, send a mail/note message to <LISTSERV@YORKVM1>
or <[log in to unmask]> with the one-line message:
SUBSCRIBE TWAIN-L your-full-name
For example: SUBSCRIBE TWAIN-L John Doe
VM systems may use the interactive command:
TELL LISTSERV at YORKVM1 SUBSCRIBE TWAIN-L your-full-name
You will then be added as a subscriber, and you will begin receiving
postings immediately (i.e., whenever another subscriber sends a message
for redistribution). When you send your message to LISTSERV, it is
read by a computer, not by a human, so you must give no more or less
information than what is specified above.
To send your own message to the Mark Twain Forum, which will
automatically redistribute it to the other subscribers, address your
message instead to one of the following addresses:
[log in to unmask] or TWAIN-L@YORKVM1
It is important to bear in mind that messages sent to TWAIN-L are
automatically distributed to the other subscribers, so please be careful
not to send a SUBSCRIBE or SIGNOFF command to these addresses (send
them to the LISTSERV address instead). Similarly, do not send a
PRIVATE message to TWAIN-L, since everyone else will see it. Private
messages should be sent directly to the intended recipient. Public
exchange of messages between individuals is encouraged, however, as
this is the purpose of the Forum.
To end your subscription to the Mark Twain Forum, send a message to the
LISTSERV address above, containing the single line:
SIGNOFF TWAIN-L
Technical questions should be addressed to the list owner (below). For
example, if you experience problems interacting with LISTSERV, send a
message to the list owner, who can manually add/delete your address
from the list.
Mark Twain Forum list owner:
Taylor Roberts, York University
<[log in to unmask]> or <TROBERTS@YORKVM1>
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