Newsgroups: bit.listserv.sedsnews
Date:         Thu, 31 Dec 1992 08:59:39 CST
From:         "H. Alan Montgomery" <FHD@TAMVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Monthly Harangue

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-=<*>=-    Get a Hardcopy of This and Hand to ALL Your Friends    -=<*>=-
-=<*>=-       HEY! I'm not kidding. Get a printout of this!       -=<*>=-
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My e-mail address is:    "H. Alan Montgomery" <FHD@TAMVM1>
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SEDSNEWS is for news about space.  Do not reply to  it. If  you  want  to
discuss one of the news items, please port it to a space discussion group
and have at it. We can use the exposure.
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If you have access to UseNet News,  please UNSUB from SEDSNEWS  and  read
our newsgroup. You need to look under sci.space.news on  UseNet  News. If
you are on a workstation (SUN, ethernet, etc), talk to your net  manager.
If you are on a VAX or micro-VAX, please inquire immediately. VAX's  have
fixed number of blocks for mail. It will cut down on your mail immensely.
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So you want back issues of SEDSNEWS. You just type:
    TELL LISTSERV AT TAMVM1 GET SEDSNEWS LOGyymmq
where yy is the last two digits of the year, mm is the month with leading
zeroes (January is 01), and q is the week letter (first week is A, second
week is B, etc.). The list is so active that an entire month is too large
to get to in one chunk.

If you are not on BITNet and want  back  issues,   just  send  e-mail  to
LISTSERV@TAMVM1.BITNET and type:
    GET SEDSNEWS LOGyymmq
as the only line in the letter. The log will be sent to you as mail.
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Do not post anything over 300 lines to SEDSNEWS.  If  you  do,  you  give
headaches to people you will never meet and never know.  E-mail  runs  at
the top priority, so your large e-mail may cause the  spooler  (translate
that to printer) to halt on micro-VAX's.  Imagine if you will:  "Late  at
night you are doing a program at Enormously Small University. The printer
stops for no apparent reason while someone's large e-mail passed on  down
the line.  If you have some big article, break it down into Part 1 of nn,
Part 2 of nn, etc.  Alternately, post a notice that you have  this  large
file and ask people to send you their e-mail address  if  they  want  it.
Then ship it to them using SENDFILE instead of mail. SENDFILE has a  much
lower priority.
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If you are on BitNet and wish to sign up, just type:
   TELL LISTSERV at TAMVM1 sub SEDSNEWS Your Name
If you want to signoff, do this:
   TELL LISTSERV at TAMVM1 unsub SEDSNEWS

(the keyword TELL is different on VAX's, so look  in  the  user's  guide
for your local computer to make sure I am correct)
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If you are on InterNet(ARPA):
1) Invoke your mailer with the address:
   LISTSERV@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU
2) Do not fill in a name (Let it default to blank)
3) Do not fill in a subject (let the E-mail go out subjectless)
4) In the body of the letter, just put one line:
   SUB SEDSNEWS Your Name
5) Make sure your return address is:
   something@something.edu
6) Send out the mail.
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If you are on InterNet(ARPA):
1) Invoke your mailer with the address:
   LISTSERV@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU
2) Do not fill in a name (Let it default to blank)
3) Do not fill in a subject (let the E-mail go out subjectless)
4) In the body of the letter, just put one line:
   UNSUB SEDSNEWS
5) Make sure your return address is:
   something@something.edu
6) Send out the mail.
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You decide that you need to know someone's address (maybe  mine). If  you
are on BitNet and wish to know  all  the  e-mail  address  of  people  on
SEDSNEWS, then type
   TELL LISTSERV at TAMVM1 rev SEDSNEWS
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If you are on InterNet(ARPA) and you want the e-mail addresses, then:
1) Invoke your mailer with the address:
   LISTSERV@TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU
2) Do not fill in a name (Let it default to blank)
3) Do not fill in a subject (let the E-mail go out subjectless)
4) In the body of the letter, just put one line:
   REV SEDSNEWS
5) Make sure your return address is:
   something@something.edu
6) Send out the mail.
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Every once and a while your computer stops talking  to  my  computer.  Or
your computer decides it does not want to talk to my  computer.  Or  your
computer talks too much to my computer.  Here are the silly  things  that
have been happening with SEDS-L and SEDSNEWS:

1) The English are different. Their node addresses  are  backwards. Their
   computers are always dropping their links with the rest  of  the  net.
   This is analogous to having the water turned  off  for  two  or  three
   days. If you do not get mail from SEDSNEWS daily, then something might
   be wrong with your computer and  the  site  coordinator  needs  to  be
   informed.

2) VAX's under VMS occasionally are programmed to  UNSUBSCRIBE  you  from
   lists if your MAILER dies.  If you  are  planning  a  vacation,   stop
   SEDSNEWS and resubscribe when you get back. If you are deathly  afraid
   of the computer and only log on when  you  absolutely  have  to,   you
   really should not be on this list. SEDSNEWS produces too  many  blocks
   to be left unattended.

3) VAX's have a certain amount of blocks  allowed  for  mail.  Tell  your
   friends that they will need alot of blocks.  If you  cannot  get  many
   blocks, then you need to unsubscribe and get an account on an  IBM. If
   you are in Australia or New Zealand, have a heart to heart  talk  with
   your systems group before subscribing. I have had people there  barely
   avoid lynching, because they had so much mail from this list.

4) Occasionally your account's MAILER may go belly  up.  Make  sure  your
   systems group finds out why.  The way you know this  has  happened  is
   that you invoke your mailer and it crashes your account. Or you get no
   mail and you have enough blocks.

5) CompuServe is a pay service. If you exceed your mail block limit, then
   they send me a message saying you exceeded your  limit.  Get  alot  of
   blocks on CompuServe to hold mail. The Space SIG on CompuServe is very
   big. You might want to mention this list with the above warnings.

6) British networking is a little different than American networking. You
   might want to check to see if your system  has  any  differences  that
   would impact a LISTSERV.   I had a case  at  Christmas  1989  where  a
   computer in England decided to answer SEDSNEWS instead of the LISTSERV
   when the account's mailer died. This meant that the error went to  all
   subscribers instead of just me.  A little over  a  gigabyte  later  my
   SEDSNEWS went belly up. Our contact in Australia unsubbed one step  in
   front of an angry mob of students and systems people who wanted  their
   printouts. Not a pretty sight.

7) If you do not register for the summer, some computers unsubscribe  you
   from all lists or they send me a note saying that you no longer exist.
   If they send me a note, I unsubscribe you. I do not give much slack on
   this one. If a note reaches me that says: "Unknown Recipient", I  drop
   you there and then.

These are my problems.  They are yours as well. You  need  to  take  some
action if you have any of the above situations.  A simple  call  to  your
local node manager might save you some problems later.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU