X-Envelope-to: politics@ohstvma.bitnet
X-VMS-To: IN%"politics@ohstvma.bitnet"
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics
Date:         Sun, 20 Dec 1992 23:55:00 EST
From:         waiting for the wolves <SWEDE@DRYCAS.BITNET>
Subject:      POLITICS FAQ, part two: signing off, nomail, archive logs, etc.
Comments: To: politics@ohstvma.bitnet

Continued from part one...

This part of the FAQ covers the "technical" aspects of the list - i.e,
how to order log files, now to sign off, set yourself nomail or conceal,
get copies of postings you send to the list, scanning the database, and
so on:

V. ACCESSING LIST POLITICS, SIGNING ON, OFF, NOMAIL, AND SO FORTH
VI. GETTING LOGS FROM LISTSERV, SCANNING THE DATABASE, AND SO ON

If you have any suggestions for further things to include in the FAQ, or
find errors in it, please contact me.  I'm already considering including
a section on ftp, and sites for files of interest, such as supreme court
decisions, political speech texts, platforms, and so on.

So, acquire the beverage of your choice, kick back, and read...
List Politics Frequently Asked Questions

V. ACCESSING LIST POLITICS, SIGNING ON, OFF, NOMAIL, AND SO FORTH

The active owner of list politics is ANDERSON@UCF1VM.BITNET.  If you've got
problems that aren't solved by following the instructions in this FAQ,
problems regarding setting listserv options, signing off, and so on,
contact him.

a. how do i join the list?

Depends on how you wish to access it.  Your site may have a local distribution
option that carries this newsgroup.  Or, if you have access to usenet
newsgroups, this mail group is usually gatewayed through bit.listserv.politics.

Many readers choose to sign on directly, via bitnet.  This is probably the
most advantageous method, for several reasons: for one, bitnet distribution is
usually immediate, while usenet distribution can be delayed by hours.  It also
discourages rampant cross-posting from other usenet newsgroups.

Of course, this group also generates between 50-100 messages a day, and those
of you with extremely limited filespace and/or time to read may find yourselves
unable to keep up with the bitnet distribution.  In that case, I would
recommend either reading through usenet, or simply not joining at all.

To sign on for bitnet distribution, send the following command to
listserv@ohstvma or listserv@ucf1vm via interactive message (i.e, from the
command line, in the same way you would carry on a computer conversation with
a friend):

sub politics "Your name"

If you are on an internet-only site or don't have interactive message
capability, the command can be sent to the listserv via e-mail.  When setting
up the message, leave the subject field blank, and include the command as the
first (and only) line of text (unless you want to give it other commands, such
as those listed further below).  Example:

mail
to: in%"listserv@ucf1vm"
subj:

sub politics "my name"
<ctrl-z>

Or however your local mailer works.

If you wish to cancel the subscription to the list, send the following command
to the same listserver you sent the original sub command to:

unsub politics

('signoff politics' does the same thing).

[special note: politics is a peered list - that is, users are distributed
on either ucf1vm or ohstvma, depending on the decision of the listserver.
You'll be sent a message after you sign on telling you which listserver you
have been assigned to.  All postings from you should be sent to the politics
lists at that node.  sub, unsub, mail, nomail, etc. commands should go to
the LISTSERV at the node you've been assigned to.  The only exception occurs
with getting politics log files, which are only available from the listserv
at ucf1vm.  More on that in VI.]

b. what's 'nomail', and why should i set it when i'm not going to read the
   list for a long while?

Generally, it's a good idea to set yourself 'nomail' if you're going to be
away from your account for a long while, say on vacation, and don't want to
go through with the fuss of unsubscribing and subscribing again.  When you
set yourself 'nomail', through the following command sent to the listserv via
interactive message or e-mail message:

set politics nomail

you tell the listserver to keep you on the list, but to not send you any posts
from the list until you say otherwise.  If you don't set this and go on
vacation, you could return to find 6 zillion plus posts in your mailer spool
and a battery of computer service people armed with blunt instruments ready to
give you a lesson in netiquette.

To reverse this and receive mail again, send this command:

set politics mail

c. can i get copies of the posts i send to politics?

Yes.  Send the following command to listserv:

set politics repro

To stop getting copies of the posts you send to politics:

set politics norepro

d. can i get a list of subscribers to this mail group?

Yes.  Send the following command to either listserv:

review politics

The subscriber files (complete or incomplete, depending on who you talk to),
will be sent to you.  POLITICS.OHSTVMA is a list of those subbed through
the OHSTVMA peer node, and POLITICS.UCF1VM is a list of those subbed through
the UCF1VM node, where all the log files are located.  Please note: when
you send a review command to either node, the node will *automatically*
forward the request to the other peered node.  Thus, you will get both files
whenever you send the command.

e. what if i don't want someone to know that i'm subscribed to list politics?

You're exhibiting a healthy amount of paranoia, and probably have an accurate
perspective on the nature of authority.  To set things so that your sub-
scription is not revealed to the unwashed masses, send the following command
to listserv:

set politics conceal

f. can i get a list of who's posted to politics, and how many posts they've
   sent in?

Mmmm hmmm.  Send the following command to listserv:

stat politics

You'll be sent a file with the e-mail addresses of postees, and the number of
posts they've sent since a certain beginning date.  Some have sent postings
from several e-mail addresses, and these posts are counted seperately.  The
last time it was reset was around January of 1991.

VI. GETTING LOGS FROM LISTSERV, SCANNING THE DATABASE, AND SO ON

Listservers keep logs of postings for all their newsgroups, and politics
is no different.  Please note that the log archives are stored at listserv@
ucf1vm.  Ohstvma does not have any logs (or bananas).

To get a list of the files available, send the following command via
interactive message or e-mail (as detailed in V):

index politics

You'll be sent POLITICS.FILELIST.  The logs themselves are listed in this
format:
                            rec               last - change
filename filetype   GET PUT -fm lrecl nrecs   date     time   Remarks
-------- --------   --- --- --- ----- ----- -------- -------- -----------------
POLITICS LOG9207A   ALL OWN V      80  9082 92/07/07 09:33:38 Started on Mon, 6
POLITICS LOG9207B   ALL OWN V      80 29352 92/07/14 22:58:56 Started on Wed, 8
POLITICS LOG9207C   ALL OWN V      80 21348 92/07/21 23:07:27 Started on Wed, 1

To order a particular file, for instance, the first one in the example, send
the following command to listserv:

send politics log9207a

The "92", in this case, is the year.  "07" is the month, July.  "A" indicates
the week ("E" is usually the last log of the month, though if there's only
four weeks in the month, it ends with "D").  So, by ordering that file, you've
got the file for the first "week" of politics posts (actually, in this example,
the first two days, since it goes from July 1 to the first wedesday, when
listserv always begins it's first "week".  Don't worry about it).

As the politics.filelist will indicate, archives earlier than those readily
available from listserv are available.  The file lists LOIS@UCF1VM as the
contactee for these files - please *IGNORE* this address.  Lois was the former
owner of the list, and has moved on.  Send your requests to the current
active listowner, Eric Anderson (ANDERSON@UCF1VM.BITNET).

Listserv imposes a restriction on the number of records you can order in a
single day.  If you order several logs, and exceed your record count limit,
you'll be told this fact by listserv, and told to wait till tomorrow before
ordering more.

Occasionally, there is a log file that is too big to be sent, that all by
itself exceeds the record count limit.  These are rare, but they occur.  If
for some reason it won't send you the file now or ever, send e-mail to the
listowner, detailing the problem.

In addition to log files, there are other files of interest for politics
readers:

  POLITICS SRULES     ALL OWN V      72    28 89/06/06 11:49:40 Rules for POLIT
  POLITICS LRULES     ALL OWN V      72   128 89/06/06 11:50:16 Rules for POLIT
  POLITICS DEFNS      ALL OWN V      79    71 89/03/08 18:43:02 Suggested defns
* Universal Declaration of Human Rights document, in its entirety
  HUMAN    RIGHTS     ALL OWN V      72   322 89/11/10 17:38:52 Human Rights do
* AIDS information files (because of all the controversy on the list)
  AIDS     INFO       ALL OWN V      70   254 89/03/21 17:50:21 Questions and A
  AIDS     STATS      ALL OWN V      79  1191 89/03/24 12:52:31 AIDS statistics
* Excerpts from John Stockwell's speech "The Secret Wars of the CIA"
* Contributed by Rich Winkel <MATHRICH@UMCVMB>
  SECRET   CIA_WARS   ALL OWN V      79  1323 90/02/26 03:32:58 Secret CIA wars
* The Libertarian Party Platform from 1990
  LIBERTY  PLAT90     ALL OWN V      70  1670 90/02/26 03:33:11 1990 Libertaria

Now, 'scanning the database.'  It is possible, and rather easy, to do a
string search on the politics logs.  It can be done by e-mail, without special
files, or it can be done interactively, with special files, for vax or
ibm mainframe bitnet-access accounts.  With a few commands, you can extract
a single post without the tedium of ordering whole logs and paging through
them to find the item you think might be there.  It's fast, it's easy, and
it's fun.

To get information on how to do this, and how to request the special files
(which are available from most listservers), send the following message to
listserv:

info database

You'll be sent a file called 'listdb.memo', a rather longish file that explains
how to acquire the special files (available from most listservs) and how to
use them, as well as how the string searches should be formatted, and what
you can do with them.  If you wish to do it by e-mail, you don't need the
special files, but you'll need the memo to get the syntax for requests.  For
instance, if I send the following commands by e-mail message to listserv@
ucf1vm:

search beer in politics
sendback index

I'll be sent a file (database.info) which lists the postings that contain
within them the string 'beer' (last I checked, this was up in the 400s or so).
This list includes the i.d. number of the posting, the date and time of
the posting, and the subject line of the posting, to help you determine which
posting you want.  To get a specific post, determine the i.d. number of the
post, say post #173, and send the following command to listserv@ucf1vm, by
e-mail message:

send print of 173

No, really, it's that easy.  Honest.  Both ways (interactive and e-mail)
work, though interactive tends to be faster.  If you have questions on this,
e-mail me privately, and I'll try to help.

End of FAQ.  There is nothing further to see.  Please go about your regular
daily business.

Gary W. Olson                   "Santa'll cut ya, man!  Santa's a blade man!"
SWEDE@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU     -Crow, MST3K presentation of
SWEDE@DRYCAS.BITNET               'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU