At Indiana University

IU Listserv Information

When you subscribe to Copyediting-L, the Listserv server at Indiana University sends you two messages -- this one with general guidelines for any mail-based discussion group and a second message with specific information about CE-L.

Please save this message for future  reference, especially if this is the
first time you subscribe to an  electronic mailing list. If you ever need
to  leave the  list,  you  will find  the  necessary instructions  below.
Perhaps  more importantly,  saving a  copy of  this message  (and of  all
future subscription notices  from other mailing lists) in  a special mail
folder will give you instant access to the list of mailing lists that you
are subscribed  to. This may  prove very useful the  next time you  go on
vacation and  need to leave  the lists temporarily so  as not to  fill up
your  mailbox while  you  are away!  You should  also  save the  "welcome
messages" from the  list owners that you will  occasionally receive after
subscribing to a new list.

To send  a message to  all the people  currently subscribed to  the list,
just  send mail  to  COPYEDITING-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU.  This is  called
"sending mail to the list", because you send mail to a single address and
LISTSERV  makes copies  for  all  the people  who  have subscribed.  This
address  (COPYEDITING-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU) is  also  called the  "list
address". You must never  try to send any command to  that address, as it
would be distributed to all the  people who have subscribed. All commands
must be sent to the "LISTSERV address", LISTSERV@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU. It
is  very important  to understand  the  difference between  the two,  but
fortunately it  is not complicated.  The LISTSERV  address is like  a FAX
number that connects you to a machine, whereas the list address is like a
normal voice line connecting  you to a person. If you  make a mistake and
dial the FAX number when you wanted  to talk to someone on the phone, you
will quickly  realize that you used  the wrong number and  call again. No
harm will have been done. If on the other hand you accidentally make your
FAX call  someone's voice  line, the  person receiving  the call  will be
inconvenienced, especially if your FAX then re-dials every 5 minutes. The
fact that  most people  will eventually  connect the  FAX machine  to the
voice line to  allow the FAX to  go through and make the  calls stop does
not mean  that you  should continue  to send FAXes  to the  voice number.
People would just get mad at you.  It works pretty much the same way with
mailing  lists, with  the difference  that  you are  calling hundreds  or
thousands of people  at the same time, and consequently  you can expect a
lot of people to get upset if  you consistently send commands to the list
address.

You may leave  the list at any time by  sending a "SIGNOFF COPYEDITING-L"
command to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU. You  can also tell LISTSERV how
you want it to  confirm the receipt of messages you send  to the list. If
you do not trust the system, send a "SET COPYEDITING-L REPRO" command and
LISTSERV will send you  a copy of your own messages, so  that you can see
that the  message was  distributed and  did not get  damaged on  the way.
After a while  you may find that this is  getting annoying, especially if
your mail program does not tell you  that the message is from you when it
informs you that  new mail has arrived from COPYEDITING-L.  If you send a
"SET COPYEDITING-L ACK  NOREPRO" command, LISTSERV will mail  you a short
acknowledgement  instead,  which  will  look different  in  your  mailbox
directory. With most mail programs you will know immediately that this is
an  acknowledgement  you  can  read  later. Finally,  you  can  turn  off
acknowledgements completely with "SET COPYEDITING-L NOACK NOREPRO".

Following  instructions from  the list  owner, your  subscription options
have been set  to "REPRO SUBJECTHDR DIGESTS NOACK" rather  than the usual
LISTSERV defaults. For more  information about subscription options, send
a "QUERY COPYEDITING-L" command to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU.

Contributions sent to this list are automatically archived. You can get a
list of the  available archive files by sending  an "INDEX COPYEDITING-L"
command to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU. You  can then order these files
with a "GET COPYEDITING-L LOGxxxx"  command, or using LISTSERV's database
search facilities. Send  an "INFO DATABASE" command  for more information
on the latter.

This  list is  available  in digest  form.  If you  wish  to receive  the
digested version of  the postings, just issue a  SET COPYEDITING-L DIGEST
command.

Please note that  it is presently possible for other  people to determine
that  you are  signed up  to the  list through  the use  of the  "REVIEW"
command,  which  returns   the  e-mail  address  and  name   of  all  the
subscribers. If  you do not  want your name to  be visible, just  issue a
"SET COPYEDITING-L CONCEAL" command.

More  information on  LISTSERV  commands  can be  found  in the  LISTSERV
reference  card, which  you can  retrieve  by sending  an "INFO  REFCARD"
command to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU.

Main page • General information from Indiana University
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Blogs by CE-L subscribers • Directory of CE-L Freelancers
Style guides contributed by subscribers
How to kill spyware and ads • Other useful or interesting topics
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Except as otherwise noted,
by William F. Blinn.All rights reserved.