ADMIN: Subscription Q & A

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

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revised 3/15/97


BASIC TECHWR-L INFORMATION

Q: How do I subscribe to TECHWR-L?
A: Send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU


Put anything on the subject line, 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- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU


Put anything on the subject line, 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- LISTSERV -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- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU


Put anything on the subject line, 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- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU


Put anything on the subject line, and include on the
first line of the message:
SET TECHWR-L NOMAIL


Q: I stopped my mail using NOMAIL, and now I want regular mail.
What do I do?
A: To change back to regular mail,
send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU


Put anything on the subject line, and include on the
first line of the message:
SET TECHWR-L MAIL

Q: I got digests, and now I want regular mail. What do
I do?
A: To change from digests back to regular mail,
send a message to:
LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU


Put anything on the subject line, 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. To post, you'll have to subscribe and use the
"SET TECHWR-L NOMAIL" command, as described above.

Q: I would like to use a Web browser to read TECHWR-L. Can I?
You can read TECHWR-L through the archive address at
http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html.
To post, you'll have to subscribe and use the
"SET TECHWR-L NOMAIL" command, as described above.

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/
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L). Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html