ADMIN: Truncated Digests and Posting Instructions

[TECHWR-L Administrator <admin -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Gang,
Here's a preliminary evaluation of the truncated
digest problem and solutions:

Fixing the symptom:
If you're suffering from truncated digests, the first step
to resolution is to switch to non-mime digests. No
guarantees, but this seems to help.
        Try sending 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 NOMIME

Accessing the information:
Save the digest that seems to be truncated as plain
text and read it in a text editor. E.g., in Eudora
select (but don't open) the digest, choose File->Save As,
and open it in Notepad or (depending on the size)
another text editor or word processor. The data is
still there, but many email programs cannot look
beyond the offending command.

Fixing the cause:
The only way to fix the cause (short of a software
solution from the listserv software company) is for
people to stop posting any sort of attachments to
the list. The message that truncated last night's
digest had a MIME type of multipart/mixed--I
don't know _for sure_ that setting in the individual
poster's mail message was the problem, but am
willing to bet on it.

Frequently Asked Questions:
No, I can't send you a copy of the digest. That's
        why we have archives.
Yes, I know that the archives at Okstate are
        having problems, but I've informed the
        technical folks at okstate, and the
        documentation.com archives work just fine.
No, I can't rewrite the software any more than
        you can rewrite Word. It's commercial software
        and that's just not an option.
No, changing to a different list processor isn't an
        option for purely financial reasons. If
        someone wants to underwrite some of the
        costs of TECHWR-L, contact me and we'll
        talk, but the expense of changing systems
        precludes this option at this time.

Eric




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

Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_
Co-author of _Unix Visual Quickstart Guide_, _Mastering HTML 4_,
_Dummies 101: HTML 4_, _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick Reference_, others.

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