Original_To:  BITNET%"mbu-l@ttuvm1.bitnet"
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.mbu-l
Date:         Mon, 27 Jul 1992 06:10:00 EDT
From:         "Composition Digest (Robert Royar,
              Moderator)" <R0MILL01@ULKYVX.BITNET>
Subject:      (Fwd: *C&CD*) Some admin stuff and lull in MBU-L (2)

Date:          Mon, 27 Jul 1992 05:29:18 EDT
From:          BITNET%"R0MILL01@ULKYVX.BITNET"  Robert Royar (C&CD Moderator)
Message-Id:    <1992Jul27.052918.2.Grendel.Lair@Cratylus>
Subject:       Some admin stuff and lull in MBU-L (2)
Reply-to:      BITNET%"R0MILL01@ULKYVX.BITNET"  Robert Royar
Organization:  Cratylus Educational Software

The Megabyte University has been dead at this site since Friday, so this
digest is uncharacteristically short.  I'll take the time to discuss some
administrative issues such as the subscription/unsubscription process, our
connection with MBU-L and comp.edu.composition(1), and our purpose.

Subscription

The C&CD is not a LISTSERV list although it is moderated.  This means that
subscribing and unsubscribing are done by hand.  It also means that all
requests for either should be sent directly to R0MILL01@ULKYVX.BITNET or
r0mill01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu This is a guest account owned by Ruth Miller
(the Director of the University of Louisville Writing Center)(2).  She
obtained the account for me so that I could continue moderating C&CD after
moving to a school (New York Institute of Technology) which has no access to
the net (I know, how can it be an Institute of Technology and not be on the
net? *8^o)

I connect long distance to UofL on average twice daily to maintain the
account, so subscription/unsubscription can take a day or more to process.  I
do not acknowledge sub/unsub requests because I've automated my mail gathering
and don't actually see the requests until they are downloaded to my
micro--where the bulk of the Digest maintenance takes place. Our account does
not allow room for archives(3).

When you write to request subs/unsub I ask that you include your e-mail
address (and at least one alternate if possible) along with your prefered real
name in the body of your request.  This makes tracking errant addresses much
easier than when I have only one address, and for unsubs the real name makes
it possible for me to track down requests when the unsubber has signed on from
a different account or the host's address has been changed by its
administration.

LISTSERV sites

There are a number of LISTSERV sites that gateway the Digest and a number of
local sites that simply redistribute the Digest locally(3).  If you subscribe
to the Digest through one of these sites, then when you wish you must unsub
through the same site.

If you desire to shut off the mail flow temporarily, you may request to unsub
(the request will take effect with the next Digest mailed).  You will then need
to resubscribe when you get back.

MBU-L and comp.edu.composition

The Digest is a collection of many of the messages going over MBU-L, most of
the messages from comp.edu.composition, and mail sent directly to the Digest's
address for group distribution.  Mail received from comp.edu.composition and
that directly sent to the Digest is forwarded to the MBU-L group, which is
more active but which has a different distribution.  Mail received directly
for the Digest is also forwarded to comp.edu.composition(1).

Focus, purpose, and a brief history

Our focus is varied, our purpose to get writing specialists "hooked" on
netmail and talking about their profession to each other and to other
computer professionals.  At times we look like talk.bizarre or alt.politics.
I exclude those messages that are directed to a specific recipient and some
of the MBU-L administravia from Fred Kemp (that list's maintainer).

C&CD began with a simple concept in 1986--connect the composition community
with the computer professional community and was patterned after NET-SPACE and
PC-DIGEST.  Many of the original readers first met through NYIT's old
PARTIcipate (5th C) project, which is now defunct, and some orf those
originals form the core of MBU-L.  C&CD and comp.edu.composition, on the other
hand, have always attempted to reach out more for the computer professional for
whom writing is a integral part of the job.

Digests are indexed by a table of contents and are limited to 48K per
mailing.  There are standards for mail headers for each entry enforced by my
software so that each entry has a similar form, regardless of its original
organization.  By chance or by synchronicity the Andrew system at Carnegie is
able to extract, forward and read the Digested messages (even responding to
the `Reply-to' address correctly).

________________________________________________________________________________

1.  Comp.edu.composition is a group begun immediately after C&CD's
    creation to port the Digest messages (on an individual basis)
    between the old Bitnet gateways and the usenet/ARPA sites which
    could not reach the Digest address directly.  Comp.edu.composition
    has since outlived that purpose because gating is no longer
    necessary at this site.  But I maintain the connection for those
    persons who prefer to receive mail in individual packages without a
    digest format.  Comp.edu.composition is likely to remain a
    low-activity newsgroup.

2.  The Digest is sent by the University of Louisville (Louisville,
    KY) from an account owned by the Director of the University Writing
    Center and funded by the University Preparatory Division.  The
    moderator, Robert Royar, is an Assistant Professor of English at
    the New York Institute of Technology (Old Westbury, NY).  NYIT has
    no network connections.

3.  Limited Archives are available at the address compos@finhutc.bitnet
    which does support LISTSERV commands.  Readers may also subscribe
    and unsubscribe from that site.  But the parent site (ulkyvx)
    cannot maintain your subscription information if you subscribe
    through finhutc.

*************************************
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU