Some of you may have noticed a few changes, though I'm guessing most
of you haven't. The basic operation of fot@autox.team.net is still
the same. You send a message to fot@autox.team.net and the folks
subscribed get a copy of your message. Pretty basic. I do request that
you try to at least browse through the highlights of the following information
to get some idea of how it all works, though it may seem like long, boring blah
blah blah.
What has changed is the mailing list management software behind the FOT list.
Well, many things have changed, like the version of Redhat Linux which the
server is running is now not nearly as old as the version running last month
before the server meltdown. And I've switched from sendmail to postfix, for
those of you who might be interested. And the change to the FOT list is going
from majordomo to mailman. Should be better in the long run.
Some basic points on the new software:
* Mailman and postfix have better capability of stopping infinite mail loops
from brain-dead autoresponders. So now replies are directed back to the
list, instead of just the original sender as they used to be. Whether this
is a bug or a feature is always open to debate. But do pay attention to
who all is going to see that smartass retort ;-)
* Membership management is now more heavily web-based. I doubt there are
many folks whose internet service does NOT include some sort of web access.
Most of what you need to do with your subscription can be done at the
listinfo web page - http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
Still some odd bugs occurring, as bringing up the list overview page at
http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo may or may not show all 25 of
the current Mailman lists, including this one.
* There is now just one FOT list, not the regular and the digest list as
existed under majordomo. Using the aforementioned listinfo/fot web page,
one can easily switch between digest and regular delivery options with a
single click. No need to unsubcribe from one list and subscribe to the
other to change delivery mode.
* There is now a 'nomail' option for list members. Before one would have
to unsubscribe when going on vacation or whatever, and then subscribe
again upon returning. Now you can click on nomail, and unclick it later.
This 'nomail' setting also has another benefit. List postings are only
accepted from subscribers. But say you use orville@oversteer.com as your
business email, where you steal time from the company to read FOT stuff.
But you are subscribed as blueflag@oildrip.net. If you reply from your
oversteer address, the mail gets chucked in the bit bucket as being from
a non-subscriber. With mailman, you can subscribe both addresses, and
set one or the other to 'nomail' That way incoming mail from either
address will be treated as a subscriber.
* To change addresses you still need to unsubscribe the old one, and then
set up a subscription for the new one, though hopefully the mailman web
interface makes it simple. Keep in mind that this list is a private one
requiring approval for membership, so your subscription changes may be held
in limbo until some procrastinating, scatterbrain sysadmin gets around to
dealing with it ;-)
* There are still overall length restrictions on messages. So please try
to be considerate and set your email program to NOT automatically include
the entire original message in your reply. Just paste in the appropriate
line or two relevant to your response, there is rarely, if ever, a need
to include the WHOLE thing. Of course, I do recognise the irony of using
a long message like this to complain of wasted bandwidth. Also, list mail
will be converted to plain text and stripped of attachments. For those of
you who have mail programs and ISPs that spew out malformed HTML garbage
instead of plain text you are still out of luck.
If you do need a place to put a picture to share, the wiki that is available
at http://www.team.net/the-local has image galleries for such purposes.
Hmm, maybe I should set up a private FOT forum there for those who prefer
that form of communication. Something to do in my spare time.
I hope that covers what folks need to know about the basic operation of the
FOT list. If you have any problems, questions, etc. uh, er, I'll be out of
town that day, but promise to get back to you RealSoonNow!
Seriously, I think the changes are for the better. One list converted from
majordomo, only about 85 more to go.
mjb.
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