ADMIN: I Screwed Up; I'm Sorry

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Gang,

I really screwed up the list. Sorry! Immediately after
the admin postings on Monday, I accidentally erased
the list. Completely. (No, I wasn't trying to make
a statement -- I just wasn't being careful enough.)

Murphy's law being as it is, the powers-that-be at
Okstate were on annual leave and just returned.
Said powers were able to restore a backup of
the list from early January, but subsequent
backups did not work. Murphy strikes again.

Results:
 * In addition to the three days without the
   list (traumatic enough, I'm sure), ALL SUBSCRIPTION
   CHANGES since early January have been undone.
   That is, if you subscribed or unsubscribed or
   changed your options since 7.Jan.97, you'll
   have to redo it. (Instructions below.)
   If you need help, just let me know.
* Anything you posted since about 9am Monday
   either didn't make it to the list or wasn't seen
   by 98% of the subscribers. Please try again.

If you know of people who have subscribed since
January, please forward this message to them. I have
no way to reach them to apologize or explain.

I just can't say how sorry I am about the inconvenience.
Apparently everything is back to normal. I'm going
to try again to implement the admin changes (more
carefully this time).

If you have any questions, please ask and I'll try
to explain.

Eric
TECHWR-L Listowner
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com

PS, how'd I do it? I left extraneous text at the bottom
of a command to the listserv and the listserv
interpreted the text as an additional command that
the contents of the list should be removed.

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revised 3/15/97


BASIC TECHWR-L INFORMATION

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     Q: I would like to use a Web browser to read TECHWR-L. Can I?
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        To post, you'll have to subscribe and use the
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POSSIBLE PROBLEMS AND RESOLUTIONS

     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- RAYCOMM -dot- COM

     Q: Why am I having trouble posting to the list?
     A: Due to problems with spamming, the TECHWR-L list
        is 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. (Note: There's no point in getting
        surly -- subscription and verification of your identity
        both take place automatically via the listserv. If, as is
        highly likely, your address changed without your knowledge,
        your local system administrators are the only ones to yell
        at.)
        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. 2500
        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.

     Q: Why did my message bounce back from Compuserve (or AOL or
        any other address besides something at LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU)?
     A: You post an article. You get a bounce message a few minutes
          later. You swear, "Rats, it didn't work." You post again.
          Trouble is, you can get a bounce message because there's one
          bad address on the subscriber list (someone who didn't
        unsubscribe before losing an account, for instance). The
          bounce message generally tells you that, if read carefully--
        or you could just wait and see if your article shows up.
        So, before reposting a "bounced" article, please be sure
        it was truly bounced from the LIST and not just undeliverable
        to a single addressee. Contact the listowner before reposting
        if you have any doubt. (Thanks to Stan Brown for this one. EJR)

GENERAL INFORMATION

     Q: Are archives for TECHWR-L available and how do I get them?
     Q: Dear Listowner, I inadvertently deleted some Techwhirl messages
        and need them back. Could you please send me....
     A: TECHWR-L archives are available through the Web at
        http://www.documentation.com/techwrit/techwrit-l.htm
        and at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html.
        You can also get them through FTP at
        ftp://listserv.okstate.edu/Archives/
        The TECHWR-L log files all start with TECHWR-L.LOG (logically).
        The rest of the name is the year (2 digits) and the month (2 digits)
        and a letter indicating which week's archive it is. For example,
        TECHWR-L.LOG9606A is from the first week of June, 1996. A posting
        from the first day of July 1996 would be in TECHWR-L.LOG9607A.

     Q: Where can I get more information about the books mentioned
        on this list?
     A: From John Renish's Books document, available at
        ftp://listserv.okstate.edu/techwr-l/ . The files are books.doc
        for Word, books.txt for text, and books.zip with both files
        zipped together.  This document is updated every
        few weeks.

     Q: Why is it that you let other people post off-topic stuff, but
        then you remind me about what the posting guidelines are? If
        they can do it, I can do it!
     A: The listowner does NOT moderate this list. That is, everything
        sent to the list appears on the list. Phrased differently,
        the listowner cannot exercise any control over what other people
        post, but probably reminded them about the posting guidelines
        as well.

     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
        membership -at- stc-va -dot- org
        http://www.stc-va.org or http://www.stc.org/

     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 many aren't.

     Q: Where do I send additions, corrections, and comments about
        this posting?
     A: To Eric, the listowner, of course. EJRAY -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM




**************************************************
Eric J. Ray                      ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner         http://www.raycomm.com/

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