Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:22:39 -0700 From: "Michael Polesky" Subject: ADMINISTRATIVE: How to Receive the "L" Very Useful Info for All
Hi All,
I resurrected this post from about a year ago with relatively few changes. One note is that Yahoogroups is no longer updating Harp-L posts. Because of the difficulty in reaching support at Yahoogroups, I can't be sure when it will be up again. So, some of the alternatives for receiving Harp-L are listed below along with helpful hints as to how they are best used.
GENERAL Subscription info is at the bottom of the page. The address for posting is Harp~arply.com. If you are not properly subscribed to the list and post, you usually get a "form letter" from me telling you to subscribe to harp-l-friends (see below). However, there are some formats for reading where bounced messages do not show up in the owner box. So, if your messages are not getting through, you may want to check with Harp-L-Worke~arply.com or myself for help. For posting to Harp-L it is necessary to go in your mail browser and make sure that the "plain text" option is selected. Because of the variety of formats we offer, Harp-L has trouble distributing "rich text", HTML, special fonts and attachments. Majordomo only responds to plain text messages. If you are using any other format, you will get a reply telling you "the command "this" is not recognizes". One good reason to check this out! Please leave all attachments off if you can. We may eventually add a filter to be sure they cannot come through in case of viruses and other glitches.
LIST The regular list is probably the easiest way to read the list. Check below for subscription instructions if you are reading in a different form and wish to change. The list generates approximately 50 e-mails each day. So, list users get lots of mail and many of us use filters to help direct list traffic right into a special folder. I am sure someone at Harp-L-Worke~arply.com will be familiar enough with your e-mail browser to give you a hand if you are having trouble. A good filter makes the list easy to use. The only drawback is the large amount of traffic we have. When you hit "reply" to any post upon which you wish to comment, always check the reply addresses to make sure Harp-L is included and that any others who are part of the thread whom you don't wish to send a separate e-mail are deleted.
DIGEST Many folks prefer the digest version to the regular "list" because it dramatically reduces the amount of messages you receive per day. I believe 3 or 4 at most per day. Digest users may know the norm better than I. The drawback to the digest is that replies to the list will quote the entire digest (until you edit it) and contain the digest number as the subject heading. Thus, to best take advantage of the digest, you need to change the subject heading and may also wish to add the address of any original authors from the thread to the addresses on your message. Be sure you edit out anything you do not require in your reply. This is basically automatic on the regular list. So, if you post a lot, it may be time consuming to use the digest. We have also experienced some technical difficulties listing the authors for each post at the top. We are working on it ;-). For those who miss this feature, the Web Interface and harp-l archives at http://www.garply.com/harp-l/archives/ do contain this information.
WEB INTERFACE Harp-L does have its own web interface also called the "Harp-L pages". The Web Interface is a way of reading Harp-L on-line with a few additional advantages as well. First and foremost, the web interface contains a list of the subjects and the authors which you can browse at will. Next, it allows you to "refresh" your mailbag. This means that after reading the mail you can clear out your box and the next time you return you will only receive the mail you since last logging on. This is great for folks who travel a lot or folks who like to read from different locations. There is also a "grab bag" for saving messages you wish to keep for further reference. The Web Interface updates immediately with the archives through our own system so it is truly "faster" than e-mail. You can read the web pages from any computer with internet access using your password. We are experiencing some problems with the "reply" button, so replying through the Web Interface is the same as replying from the digest, so you need to change the subject heading and may also wish to add the address of any original authors from the thread to the addresses on your message along with copying any pertinent text. To get a web pages account go to: http://www.garply.com/harp-l/cgi-bin/account.cgi and follow the instructions. Web Interface users generally unsubscribe themselves from the mailing list itself (because they browse on-line) and subscribe their addresses to harp-l-friends in order to be able to post. The instructions explain how to do that and I or harp-l-worke~arply.com are there to help with the more complicated situations.
HARP-L-ARCHIVES I have discovered that more and more readers are referring to the archives to follow the list. They are located at: http://www.garply.com/harp-l/archives/ The advantage of the archives is that they update faster than e-mail does, like the Web Interface. Archives are read on line and can be accessed on any computer that has web access. You do not need a password to use the archives. In order to post while reading Harp-L-Archives you need to subscribe to harp-l-friends like the Web Interface.
HARP-L-FRIENDS "Friends" is a list of addresses for which posts to harp~arply.com will get through whether the address is a member of the list or digest or not. For the web-interface, e-groups and just browsing the archives, it is necessary to subscribe to harp-l-friends by sending a message to majordo~arply.com saying:
subscribe harp-l-friends
with no specific subject header necessary. If your posts are not getting through, subscribing to friends is the first thing you should try. Unlike the list or digest, you will never receive mail from "friends" (we have recently made sure of that), so there is also no ne ed to unsubscribe if you change addresses. However, please note that the posting address for friends is exactly the same as for anyone else: Harp~arply.com. Some ISP's use different "in and out" addresses - such as a hidden someo~ail.msn.net for the address that generally appears someo~sn.net or the like. At Harp-L-Worke~arply.com we can manually subscribe these types of addresses for you if your subscription to friends does not work properly at first.
SUBSCRIPTION INSTRUCTIONS 1st!! Check your e-mail browser options to be sure you are sending in "plain text"! If you get a message saying "the command "this" is not recognized" then you need to change your mail format.
2nd. Majordomo only wants to see the command. Do not give your name or e-mail address. The format is type in the command only with no specific subject header necessary. Also, do not use any capital letters. All small case works perfectly. Capitals can confuse majordomo.
3rd. Pick your command. Majordomo is designed to give an automatic response directly to the address it receives mail from. It will not allow you to subscribe or unsubscribe any address other than the one you are currently using. If you change your address you will need to ask me or harp-l-workers to clean out the old address manually. Majordomo will respond automatically to three specific commands. Subscribe, unsubscribe and who. The commands will look like one of these:
The command "who" provides you a list of those subscribed by e-mail address only. It is sometimes helpful in locating addresses you have misplaced. If you are not a member of the specific list you request, majordomo will refuse the command. So, you can only "who" the list you belong to. If you have trouble with majordomo still, you can always ask me at NewCal~acbell.net or Harp-L-Worke~arply.com.
Well, I hope this is helpful to one or two of you out there. In the meantime, enjoy and keep talking harp!
