by A N N O U N C E M E N T
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New mailing list for Empress Database users:
EMPRESS USER Mailing List Frequently Asked Questions
Last Changed: June 1, 1993
This listing explains some of the finer points of posting and reading messages
on the empress user mailing list. It also presents instructions on how
to send a follow-up to the entire list or a reply to an individual member.
The text is organized into a series of questions and answers. The questions
discussed are:
1. What is the EMPRESS USER mailing list?
2. How do I post an original message to the list?
3. Do I need to include any special information in a posting?
4. How do I reply to the author of a message?
5. How do I post a follow-up message to the entire list?
6. What are List-ID's?
7. Is there an archive of past list messages?
8. How do I join the list?
9. Languages
1. What is the EMPRESS USER mailing list?
An electronic mailing list is a collection of e-mail addresses for a group of
people who share a common interest in a particular topic. The mailing list
allows the group to discuss the topic among themselves easily via e-mail.
An e-mail alias (a "fake" address) is established on one system to allow
messages to be posted to the list. When a message is mailed to the posting
alias, a separate copy of the message is automatically mailed to each address
on the mailing list. A mailing list itself does not usually employ any special
hardware or networks, but merely uses the existing e-mail facilities of systems
around the Net for automatic distribution.
The empuser mailing list is just such a list. It is maintained on the system
"maz.sma.ch" located at Swiss Meteorological Institute, Zurich Switzerland.
The list is primarily to discussion of EMPRESS User questions.
The messages from the news groups comp.databases, de.comp.databases,
comp.databases.theory which contains the string 'EMPRESS' are gatewayed to
the empress mailing list. So this list would be interesting for users
without access to a news-groups.
Membership in the list is open to anyone. The list is unmoderated, so members
are solely responsible for its content. All contributions are welcome, so
long as they emphasize substantive information.
2. How do I post an original message to the list?
To post a message to the entire list, send a normal e-mail message to the
address "emplist" on the system "maz.sma.ch". When it reaches maz.sma.ch, it
will immediately be sent out to each member of the list.
If your mailer understands domain-style addressing, the address for posting is
"...!maz!sma!emplist". Replace the "..." with the path from your
system to a major site linked to emory such as rutgers, gatech or uunet.
3. Do I need to include any special information in a posting?
Technically, no. However, as a matter of etiquette you should include your
e-mail address within your message to help other list members reply directly to
you. Many people put this information in a standard signature block that they
include at the end of each outgoing message.
You must have more new lines in your message than you have included (copied)
lines. This restriction is placed on list messages since they are gatewayed to
Usenet, which has this requirement. An "included" line is any message line
that begins with a ">". This character is used by many mailers to flag lines
copied into a message from other messages or files.
4. How do I reply to the author of a message?
If you want to send a reply to the someone who originated a message, you should
send mail directly to their e-mail address. The "reply" command in your mailer
should work correctly, but it's always best to check the reply address to make
sure it's correct.
5. How do I post a follow-up message to the entire list?
If you want to post a follow-up message to the list, send it like you would an
original message, as outlined in question #2 above.
6. What are List-ID's?
Each message posted to the list is assigned a unique List-ID identified by a
line starting "X-Emplist-Id:" within the header of the message.
Depending on your mailer, you may not see this line during normal mail reading.
However, If you save a message to a file, the line will usually be included.
Messages posted directly to the list are identified by List-ID's of the form
<list.#>, where "#" is replaced by an integer that is incremented for each
message posted.
7. Is there an archive of past list messages?
Yes. An archive of empress related files and selected past messages from the
empress mailing list is maintained on ftp.sma.ch (141.249.3.33) in the
directory /pub/emplist
Note that this is not the same system as the home of the empress mailing list.
The archive can be accessed only via anonymous FTP. There is no archive mail
server on maz.sma.ch, but there are other mail servers around the Net
that will do the FTP for you and send you the file(s) via e-mail.
8. How do I join the list?
If you are reading this listing, but are not yet on the list, send an e-mail
join. Do *not* send to "emplist" at that same site. That will cause
your message to be sent to the entire list.
If you have any further questions about sending or reading e-mail, ask your
9. Languages
Feel free to communicate in english, french, german or italian.
End of Empress User Mailing List Frequently Asked Questions