• FramFAQ
• Administrivia

Framingham Mailing Lists Frequently Asked Questions

Section B: Administrivia

B0. How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from the list?

To subscribe, go to this link and answer the questions. You will have to provide your name, email address, which list you want to subscribe to, and whether you want the list to be delivered as each message happens or in digest mode. Further, if you want digest mode, then you will have to pick whether you want plain text digest mode or MIME digest mode.

Click on the subscribe button and you will have a confirmation emailed to you. You must reply to the confirmation and your subscription will be completed. If you do not then the subscribe process will not complete. Once you confirn, your randomly generated password will be emailed to you along with the intro file explaining details of the list.

If you want to subscribe to more than one list, you must do this for each list that you want to be subscribed to.

To unsubscribe, you'll need your list password. If you don't have it, please see B2 below for instructions on how to get it. Then go to http://steveo.syslang.net/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr and click on the Unsubscribe or Change Settings button at the top or bottom of the page. Enter the e-mail address under which you are subscribed and the Sign in radio button and then hit Go. This will take you to a page with your settings for each list that you are subscribed to. This list of settings includes an option to unsubscribe.

Again, a confirmation message will be mailed to you. If you do not confirm the request then you will not be unsubscribed. We do this so other people can not affect your settings.

B1. Is it OK to post html ("rich text") messages to the list?

Sure! But the list software filters out all the formatting and delivers only the plain text part of your message. This keeps the digest version from becoming cluttered with HTML, and prevents viruses from being transmitted via the list.

Also, please note that when you compose your messages using characters that do not map to plain text, the result is that you will see such characters translated to something that you might not have intended. (Usually, that can be a question mark.)

If you want to know in advance exactly what it will look like before you send it, your best bet is to configure your mailer so that it just sends plain text.

B2. I want to change something about my subscription and I don't have my list password. How do I get my password?

Go here and click on the button at the top or bottom of the page that says Sign in. Just fill in your email address and click the radio button that says I forgot my password. Then click on the Go button. You will soon receive a message asking you to confirm the fact that someone is requesting your secret password. You need to confirm that request. (Instructions on how to confirm will be included in the email.) Once your request is confirmed, your password will be e-mailed to you. It may take a few minutes for it to arrive.

B3. I have a new e-mail address and I'd like to switch my subscriptions. How do I do it?

(Note: if these instructions seem daunting, please feel free to send us e-mail <frambors DASH owner YOU ARE NOT LOGGED IN ARE YOU AT syslang DOT net>, and we'll be happy to take care of it for you.)

You'll need your list password for the old subscription in order to proceed. If you don't have it, please see B2 above for instructions on how to get it.

To switch your subscription, go here and hit the Unsubscribe or Change Settings button at the top or bottom of the page. Almost at the bottom of the page will be an option called Changing your Address. Just fill in your address and click on changeaddr. You will then receive confirmation instructions.

B4. What can I change about my list subscription?

You'll need your list password to change any of your subscription options. If you don't have it, please see B2 above for instructions on how to get it.

Send a message to majordomo <majordomo AT syslang DOT net> to see all of the documentation on the set command by saying help set in the body of the message.

B5. I'd like to disable mail delivery for a little while without unsubscribing. How do I do it?

You'll need your list password to do this. If you don't have it, please see B2 above for instructions on how to get it.

There is no web interface to do this. Instead, you need to send commands to <majordomo AT ATATAT syslang DOT net>.

approve PASSWORD set LISTNAME vacation-4d

This will turn your delivery off for four days.

approve PASSWORD set LISTNAME vacation-1m

This will turn your delivery off for one month.

If you get back early and want to turn your delivery back on, just say:

approve PASSWORD set LISTNAME vacation-return

For full documentation send a message to majordomo <majordomo AT ATATAT syslang DOT net> and say help set in the body of the message.

B6. There are too many messages on this list! What can I do?

There are two solutions: (a) Digests or (b) Filtering into Folders.

With digests, you get a few big messages each day (usually one) that contain all the messages for that day, instead of getting them as individual messages throughout the day. You enable digests by changing an option on your list subscription. See B7 for details.

With filtering into folders, you direct all List messages automatically into a specific mail folder on your computer, instead of having them interspersed throughout your general mail in-box. You set this up in a way specific to your mail client or service (AOL, Eudora, Outlook Express, Yahoo Mail, HotMail, etc). B8 will soon contain instructions for setting up filtering into folders on many of the popular mail clients and services.

There are advantages to each method, but filtering into folders is best, if you're willing to take a bit more trouble to set it up.

There are two kinds of digests. MIME digests and text digests. When you receive the list as text digests, you can no longer treat each message as an individual e-mail for surgical deletion and other operations. Never reply to a digest. If you want to reply to a message in a digest then you need to start a new message and include only as much of the previous message that you are replying to to minimally preserve context.

Filtering into folders automatically places all your List messages into one or more specific, segregated places (folders) on your own system or account, as soon as each message arrives. There are just as many messages and they arrive all day long, but they aren't cluttering up any other folder, and there aren't any other messages cluttering them up. You can go look at them in their special folders -- or not -- when you choose.

In their special Frambors folder, you can still work with each message as an individual e-mail, and do things like sort and mark the headers, delete individual messages, and whatever features your e-mail system provides. Perhaps most important, you can reply to an individual post in the usual way.

Another advantage of not using digests is that you can filter out messages from particular individuals, should you wish to. Again, the method for doing that varies with the mail system you are using.

There's essentially no discernible difference in efficiency between digests and filtering into folders: both take about the same time to download and both occupy about the same amount of disk space.

B7. How do I switch between regular mode and digest mode?

You can change your subscription so that instead of getting every message individually, you get one or two big messages each day that contains 25 or so messages at a time.

You'll need your list password to do this. If you don't have it, please see B2 above for instructions on how to get it.

Go here. Your Delivery Mode is just one of your personal settings. All you need to do is to log in with your password and change the Delivery Mode setting to something else. Your digest choices are the Daily Digest in either text or mime format.

If you want to turn digest mode off, follow the above instructions, except choose each message as it is posted.

B8. How do I set up mail filtering rules for the lists?

(This answer is in the process of being written.)

B9. Why am I getting duplicate messages?

There are a number of reasons that you could be getting duplicate messages.

One possibility is that you are subscribed to more than one list and that an individual message is posted to those multiple lists. That is not allowed and is likely not an issue.

Another possibility is that someone is sending a message to a list and Cc'ing you. In that case you will get two copies. Then when people reply using ReplyToAll, the cycle would repeat. Please be aware that ReplyToAll can cause problems for others in lists.

B10. It feels like I just joined a long conversation already in progress. How can i catch up?

Welcome to the club! It felt like that to just about everyone who wasn't one of the "founding members". The easiest way to catch up is to read the messages regularly for a while and then jump in.

If you are interested in reading back issues of the list, go here and enter your email address and password, go to the Unsubscribe or Change Settings and then click on the info button to the right of the name of the list. From there you will see a list of choices. Click on the one that says Message Archive and you'll be able to read them month by month. If you have forgotten your password, please see B2 above for how to get it.

B11. Can I get a virus from these lists?

No. It is absolutely impossible for a virus to be transmitted via a message sent through these lists. This is because the list software delivers only plain text, and filters out attachments and scripts, which is how viruses are delivered.

However, you can get a virus from any individual with whom you correspond by e-mail. So if you correspond with is an individual on a list, you may receive a virus from that person. And there are viruses which pretend to be from people who are in the address book of the infected person. So you may receive a virus which appears to be from someone you know from a list, but is really from someone whose address book contained that person. In the same way, other people can get a virus which appears to be from you but is really from someone with whom you've corresponded.

It is also possible to get a virus from a web site, so if you click on a link contained in an e-mail, and you visit the web site that the link points to, and that web site is malicious, you may get a virus that way.

The bottom line: if you subscribe to a list but never correspond with anyone on the list or post to the list, and you never click on any links in e-mails posted through the list, there is no way you can get a virus either from the list or from anyone on the list.

Everyone should take measures to prevent virus infection: running virus-scanning software is one good way to do this.

Another good way to not have to worry about viruses is to run Linux.

B12. How many posts a day are there? Who posts the most? How many people subscribe and unsubscribe?

No idea.

B13. Where did these questions come from and how can I add to them and make them better?

These questions were taken from the Arlington List FAQ. They represented a good starting point but it lacks in certain areas because of fundamental differences between what we are and what they are. (e.g., they use different software, they have one list while we have many, etc...)

So, if you see a question that needs to be answered and it's not in here, or if you see information that is wrong because of different municpal relevance, or any other reason at all, please let me <frambors DASH owner AT THE HAT syslang DOT net> know so we can fix it, or just go ahead and fix it yourself.

B14. How do I see the list of subscribers on the list?

Send the who command in the body of your message to majordomo <major do mo AT ATATAT syslang DOT net>.

For example:
who frambors

If you really don't want subscribers to see your email address, you have some account settings to assist beyond the default nohide setting.

You can set your account to be in hideaddress mode where your name will be visible but not your email address. You can also set hideall mode where no one will be able to see you from the who command at all except for the list owner.

B15. What are the rules of engagement during an election?

There are two sets of rules. The first set is what the public is required to follow. The second set is what changes are made to Majordomo to enforce the public rules.

• Public rules.
  • No endorsements are allowed. You may discuss issues but anything that can be construed as favoring a particular candidate will be rejected.
  • The public is allowed to ask questions of the candidates. In case there is any doubt, no personal attacks will be allowed. Of course, the candidates are allowed and encouraged to answer. If a question is not answered by a candidate, the same question may not be repeated. Consider it asked and answered.
• Public and Candidate Rules.
  • No campaigning is allowed. Period. Discuss issues. Answer questions. Announce events. If it seems like you are blowing your own horn then it is not allowed.
  • Candidates and the public are allowed to make political announcements. Examples of things that are of an announcement nature might be (but are not excluded to) "I am running", "I am holding a fundraiser", or "I have a website to provide information".

Whenever possible, the operator of frambors is happy to provide hosting for anyone's webpage if they do not have access of their own facilities. This is what the wiki is for and we even have a CampaignTemplate created to help get you started.

• Changes to Majordomo.
  • Majordomo will be temporarily modified to cause moderation to occur if a message contains any candidate's name or email address for both frambors and framcom.
  • All candidates will be supervised.

B16. What happens to rejected messages?

The sender is notified with a reason or reasons why and a copy is sent to the list of people who help. Sometimes people think that the decision to reject their post is arbitrary and want to complain. Feel free to respond if you disagree or do not understand, but the decision is always known by more than one person.

B17. So what email addresses do I need to know?

Here's how it works. Every list has three addresses.

• The first is listname@syslang.net and that is the email address that you send to for the purpose of sending a message to the millions of subscribers. For example, to send a message to all of the subscribers on frambors, just send to <fram bors AT sys lang DOT net>

• The second is listname-request@syslang.net and that is where you send a message to the Majordomo2 robot to ask it to do something for you. For example, to put yourself in digest mode on the frambors list, you would send a message to <fram bors DASH re quest AT sys lang DOT net> and in the body of the message give the command to be placed in digest mode.

• The third address is listname-owner@syslang.net which is a guaranteed way to reach the owner of the list in question.