TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
New Stuff:
Q: Why am I having trouble posting to the list?
A: Due to problems with spamming, the TECHWR-L list
is now restricted. Only subscribers to the list can
post. If you are a subscriber but your E-mail address
(as shown on your outgoing messages) has changed, you'll
have problems. Contact the list owner with your old
and current addresses.
If you read TECHWR-L through the bit.listserv.techwr-l
newsgroup, you'll find that your postings make it to the
newsgroup but then bounce from the listserv. That means
that other news readers will see it, but the approx. 1900
regular subscribers will not. You'll have to subscribe
through E-mail using the procedure below and then use
that E-mail account to post your messages. "Subscribing"
to the news group through your news reader will NOT work.
You can subscribe, then set NOMAIL. That will put you on
the list but allow you to continue with your current
process. Contact the listowner directly with questions.
Old Stuff (but please review it anyway).
Q: How do I subscribe to TECHWR-L?
A: Send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Leave the subject line blank, and include on the
first line of the message:
SUB TECHWR-L first_name last_name
For example:
SUB TECHWR-L Eric Ray
Q: How do I unsubscribe?
A: Send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Leave the subject line blank, and include on the
first line of the message:
UNSUB TECHWR-L
Q: How do I post messages to the TECHWR-L list?
A: Send a message to:
TECHWR-L -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Q: What are digests and how do I get them?
A: Digests are daily mailings which include all
postings to TECHWR-L from the last 24 hours. These
are unedited, and unmoderated--they just give you
one big message instead of many little ones.
To get digests (assuming you are a subscriber),
send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Leave the subject line blank, and include on the
first line of the message:
SET TECHWR-L DIGEST
Q: I want to stop my mail, but I don't want to unsubscribe
because I hate that confirmation process. What do I do?
A: To stop your mail (assuming you are a subscriber),
send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Leave the subject line blank, and include on the
first line of the message:
SET TECHWR-L NOMAIL
Q: I stopped my mail using NOMAIL, and now I want reqular mail. What do
I do?
A: To change back to regular mail,
send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Leave the subject line blank, and include on the
first line of the message:
SET TECHWR-L MAIL
Q: I got digests, and now I want reqular mail. What do
I do?
A: To change from digests back to regular mail,
send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Leave the subject line blank, and include on the
first line of the message:
SET TECHWR-L MAIL
Q: I would rather read TECHWR-L through a newsgroup. Is this
possible?
A: Look for bit.listserv.techwr-l. If you don't already
have access to it, ask your system administrator to
help.
Q: Who is the listowner and how do I contact him?
A: Eric Ray is the owner (that's me), and my address is
EJRAY -at- GALAXY -dot- GALSTAR -dot- COM -dot-
Q: Who is responsible for the information posted to the
list, and who controls what gets posted?
A: The listowner and Oklahoma State University are not
responsible for anything posted to the list. The list is public
and unmoderated, so people who choose to post claim full
responsibility for anything posted under their respective
addresses and userids. The POSTMASTER@<whatever the address is>
is the only other person with any control over individual
postings from any userid.
Q: What is STC and how do I contact them?
A: STC is the Society for Technical Communication, and is
main professional organization for technical
and scientific communicators. Any questions, comments
or suggestions for STC should go to:
Society for Technical Communication
901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 904
Arlington VA 22203-1854
703/522-4114
Q: How do STC and TECHWR-L relate?
A: They don't officially. Many STC members are on the list,
but most aren't. Many list subscribers are STC members,
but some aren't.
Q: Where do I send additions, corrections, and comments about
this posting?
A: To Eric, the listowner, of course. EJRAY -at- GALAXY -dot- GALSTAR -dot- COM
GUIDELINES FOR POSTING MESSAGES:
(from WINHLP-L owner George Byrnes byrnes -at- admin -dot- humberc -dot- on -dot- ca)
(Thanks to Christopher Salter for these suggestions)
1. If you have something to contribute to a discussion, please try
to post to the list rather than respond via private email. List
subscribers other than the one who asked the original question will
be interested in reading your response.
2. Questions concerning the administration of the list should be
emailed privately to the list administrator and not to the list
itself. The exception to this is if you are raising a question
that you feel should be discussed by all list subscribers.
3. If you receive a post via the list which you feel is inappropriate
and wish to say so, please do so by private email.
4. If you wish to thank subscribers for their assistance, a courtesy
which is appreciated, please do so by private email unless you
have some feedback which will be of interest to all subscribers.
5. To assist in the use of private email when appropriate, please
try to include your email address in the body of any list
contribution you make.
6. Forwarding questions from people who for whatever reason do not
have access to the list is more than acceptable. It's all grist
for the mill.
(end of message from Byrnes)
Part 1:
* If it is about technical communication and of general
interest, post it.
* If it is about technical communication and humorous,
post it.
Part 2:
* If it doesn't relate to technical communication,
don't post it.
* If it is a personal message to a single subscriber,
don't post it. Even if mail to that person bounces.
* If you aren't sure, don't post it.
* If it relates to language use but not technical
communication, it probably isn't appropriate.
* If it continues an irrelevant thread in any way
(rebuttal, rebuke, rerun, revision, remark), don't
post it.
* If it is something cute, interesting, or funny that
you found on the Internet (e.g. Dr. Seuss on Tech
Writing, origin of spam), don't post it. I assure
you that most readers have seen it already.
Part 3:
* Direct all commentary about this message to my
address, not the list.
*********************************
Eric J. Ray
ejray -at- galaxy -dot- galstar -dot- com
