186 lines
9.3 KiB
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186 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
From emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm Thu Feb 3 23:24:52 1994 remote from awwe
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Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 23:15:50 -0500 (EST)
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From: Nancy Ammerman <emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm>
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To: Jackie Ammerman <emory!emoryu1!awwe!root@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
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Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9402032335.G3501-0100000@flagstaff.Princeton.EDU>
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Mime-Version: 1.0
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Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
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Chapter 5: MAILING LISTS AND BITNET
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5.1 INTERNET MAILING LISTS
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Usenet is not the only forum on the Net. Scores of "mailing
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lists" represent another way to interact with other Net users.
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Unlike Usenet messages, which are stored in one central location on
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your host system's computer, mailing-list messages are delivered right
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to your e-mail box, unlike Usenet messages.
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You have to ask for permission to join a mailing list. Unlike
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Usenet, where your message is distributed to the world, on a mailing
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list, you send your messages to a central moderator, who either re-mails
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it to the other people on the list or uses it to compile a periodic
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"digest" mailed to subscribers.
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Given the number of newsgroups, why would anybody bother with a
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mailing list?
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Even on Usenet, there are some topics that just might not generate
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enough interest for a newsgroup; for example, the Queen list, which is
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all about the late Freddie Mercury's band.
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And because a moderator decides who can participate, a mailing list
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can offer a degree of freedom to speak one's mind (or not worry about
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net.weenies) that is not necessarily possible on Usenet. Several
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groups offer anonymous postings -- only the moderator knows the real
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names of people who contribute. Examples include 12Step, where people
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enrolled in such programs as Alcoholics Anonymous can discuss their
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experiences, and sappho, a list limited to gay and bisexual women.
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You can find mailing addresses and descriptions of these lists
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in the news.announce.newusers newsgroup with the subject of "Publicly
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Accessible Mailing Lists." Mailing lists now number in the hundreds,
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so this posting is divided into three parts.
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If you find a list to which you want to subscribe, send an e-
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mail message to
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list-request@address
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where "list" is the name of the mailing list and "address" is the
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moderator's e-mail address, asking to be added to the list. Include
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your full e-mail address just in case something happens to your
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message's header along the way, and ask, if you're accepted, for the
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address to mail messages to the list.
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5.2 BITNET
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As if Usenet and mailing lists were not enough, there are Bitnet
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"discussion groups" or "lists."
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Bitnet is an international network linking colleges and
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universities, but it uses a different set of technical protocols for
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distributing information than the Internet or Usenet.
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It offers hundreds of discussion groups, comparable in scope to
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Usenet newsgroups.
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One of the major differences is the way messages are
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distributed. Bitnet messages are sent to your mailbox, just as with a
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mailing list. However, where mailing lists are often maintained by a
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person, all Bitnet discussion groups are automated -- you subscribe to
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them through messages to a "listserver" computer. This is a kind of
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robot moderator that controls distribution of messages on the list. In
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many cases, it also maintains indexes and archives of past postings in a
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given discussion group, which can be handy if you want to get up to
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speed with a discussion or just search for some information related to
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it.
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Many Bitnet discussion groups are now "translated" into Usenet
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form and carried through Usenet in the bit.listserv hierarchy. In
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general, it's probably better to read messages through Usenet if you
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can. It saves some storage space on your host system's hard drives.
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If 50 people subscribe to the same Bitnet list, that means 50
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copies of each message get stored on the system; whereas if 50 people
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read a Usenet message, that's still only one message that needs storage
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on the system. It can also save your sanity if the discussion group
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generates large numbers of messages. Think of opening your e-mailbox
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one day to find 200 messages in it -- 199 of them from a discussion
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group and one of them a "real" e-mail message that's important to you.
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Subscribing and canceling subscriptions is done through an e-
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mail message to the listserver computer. For addressing, all
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listservers are known as "listserv" (yep) at some Bitnet address.
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This means you will have to add ".bitnet" to the end of the
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address, if it's in a form like this: listserv@miamiu. For example, if
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you have an interest in environmental issues, you might want to
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subscribe to the Econet discussion group. To subscribe, send an e-mail
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message to
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listserv@miamiu.bitnet
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Some Bitnet listservers are also connected to the Internet, so if you
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see a listserver address ending in ".edu", you can e-mail the
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listserver without adding ".bitnet" to the end.
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Always leave the "subject:" line blank in a message to a
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listserver. Inside the message, you tell the listserver what you
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want, with a series of simple commands:
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subscribe group Your Name To subscribe to a list, where "group"
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is the list name and "Your Name" is
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your full name, for example:
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subscribe econet Henry Fielding
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unsubscribe group Your Name To discontinue a group, for example:
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unsubscribe econet Henry Fielding
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list global This sends you a list of all available
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Bitnet discussion groups. But be careful
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-- the list is VERY long!
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get refcard Sends you a list of other commands you
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can use with a listserver, such as
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commands for retrieving past postings
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from a discussion group.
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Each of these commands goes on a separate line in your message
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(and you can use one or all of them). If you want to get a list of
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all Bitnet discussion groups, send e-mail to
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listserv@bitnic.educom.edu
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Leave the "subject:" line blank and use the list global command.
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When you subscribe to a Bitnet group, there are two important
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differences from Usenet.
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First, when you want to post a message for others to read in the
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discussion group, you send a message to the group name at its Bitnet
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address. Using Econet as an example, you would mail the message to:
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econet@miamiu.bitnet
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Note that this is different from the listserv address you used to
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subscribe to the group to begin with. Use the listserv address ONLY
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to subscribe to or unsubscribe from a discussion group. If you use the
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discussion-group address, your message will go out to every other
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subscriber, many of whom will think unkind thoughts, which they may
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share with you in an e-mail message).
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The second difference relates to sending an e-mail message to the
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author of a particular posting. Usenet newsreaders such as rn and nn
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let you do this with one key. But if you hit your R key to respond to
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a discussion-group message, your message will go to the listserver,
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and from there to everybody else on the list! This can prove
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embarrassing to you and annoying to others. To make sure your
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message goes just to the person who wrote the posting, take down his
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e-mail address from the posting and then compose a brand-new message
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to him. Remember, also, that if you see an e-mail address like
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IZZY@INDYVMS, it's a Bitnet address.
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Two Bitnet lists will prove helpful for delving further into the
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network. NEW-LIST tells you the names of new discussion groups. To
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subscribe, send a message to listserv@ndsuvm1.bitnet:
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sub NEW-LIST Your Name
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INFONETS is the place to go when you have questions about Bitnet.
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It is also first rate for help on questions about all major computer
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networks and how to reach them. To subscribe, send e-mail to info-nets-
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request@think.com:
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sub INFONETS Your Name
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Both of these lists are also available on Usenet, the former as
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bit.listserv.new-list; the latter as bit.listserv.infonets (sometimes
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bit.listserv.info-nets).
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Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
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