FOLKDJ-L Subscription Options

FOLKDJ-L is a self-service discussion list, meaning that listmembers take care of subscribing, unsubscribing, and setting subscription options on their own.

Listserv, the mail processing software that handles your FOLKDJ-L subscription, lets you set certain options related to message appearance and delivery. This page provides information on commonly-used Listserv features.

New FOLKDJ-L subscriptions are served with the following default settings:

A note about privacy

For your privacy, a listing of subscribers is not made available.

You should also be aware that anything you post to folkdj-l -- including your name and email address -- will be available in the archives.

FOLKDJ-L listowners will not otherwise disclose your name, email address, shoe size, checking account balance, or any other personally-identifiable information.

Changing FOLKDJ-L settings

There are two methods by which you may change your FOLKDJ-L subscription options. The first, and simplest, is to view and change the options via the web interface. (If you don't already have a password, you'll need to generate one -- and confirm via email -- to prevent unauthorized use.) Once logged in, you'll be presented with a menu of subscription options that may be updated as you desire. Each of these options is fully described below.

Alternately, you may issue Listserv commands as the body of an email message to the list server, the address of which is listserv@lists.psu.edu. Commands take the form

set folkdj-l [command]

... where [command] is the command you wish to execute (see below), without brackets. The subject line will be ignored, as will any data in the message not recognized by the server, such as your name or signature.

User-defined subscription options

Changing message header appearance

By default, FOLKDJ-L mail is sent with the list name in the subject header, like this

Subject: [FOLKDJ-L] Re: Searchable Database?

If you wish to remove the list identification, issue the nosubj command. It may be turned on with subj.

Another nice option is the ability to have dual headers, where a few headers are repeated in the top of the message, like this:

------------------- Information from the mail header ----------------- Sender: Folk and Bluegrass DJs <FOLKDJ-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU> Poster: Mike Yuhas <mike@FOLKRADIO.ORG> Subject: Re: Searchable Database? ----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you receive a lot of email, this option might help give you a quick visual indicator that the message is from FOLKDJ-L. Turn it on with the dual command.

Note that DUAL and SUBJ cannot be set simultaneously; the most recent command Listserv receives will be in effect.

These options only apply to individual messages, not digests.

Switching to digest or individual messages

To receive FOLKDJ-L in digest form, send the digest command. If you wish to resume delivery of individual messages, send the mail command.

A note about digests

At a minimum, you can expect one digest per day of FOLKDJ-L mail. In actuality, the number of daily digests has grown as our listmembership has grown, to the point that three or four digests per day is not unusual.

There is always a digest sent at 11pm eastern time (unless there is no mail waiting). After that, "Special issue" digests are sent when the accumulated mail reaches about 1000 lines, or roughly 35K bytes.

There are three different subtypes of digests available: MIME, NOMIME, and HTML. (We're not going to get into an immensely technical discussion of Multipart Internet Mail Enclosures -- heck, we don't pretend to understand 'em thoroughly ourselves -- we're just providing a modicum of info to help you troubleshoot your digest delivery.) If your email client is MIME-compliant, Listserv automatically sets your digest to MIME. Some MIME-compliant email clients burst digests into individual messages. If this is happening to you, and you want to receive all messages in a single, unbursted package, change your digest setting with the nomime command. If that doesn't work, try mime. Like we say, some of this stuff is tricky, and best results are often determined by trial and error.

Further, some email packages have the ability to display messages with html encoding (styles) intact. You can try the html command; subsequent digests will arrive with html links that point to the individual messages within.

Changing your subscription email address

If you anticipate that your email address will change, you can easily update your folkdj-l subscription without having to unsubscribe and then resubscribe. This is very easy to change at the Listserv web interface (just type your new address where indicated), but can also be handled through email. The syntax is slightly different. When your new address becomes functional, send the command

change folkdj-l [newaddress]

where [newaddress] is your new email address (no brackets). Note the change in syntax: change replaces set. It's important that you send the message from the address you wish to have changed -- and be sure you type your new address correctly! You will need to respond to a confirmation email (which is sent to the new address) before the change takes effect. (See, it really is simpler if you use the web interface!)

Temporarily suspending FOLKDJ-L mail

If you're going to be away from your email for more than a few days, you might want to suspend your FOLKDJ-L subscription. Use nomail to postpone delivery, and mail or digest upon your return to turn mail back on.

It's very important to go to nomail if you anticipate a lengthy absence, as oftentimes a large volume of FOLKDJ-L mail can overwhelm a crowded email account, resulting in "mailbox full" bounce messages. You wouldn't know about the bounces, of course, but the listowner quickly tires of them. When that happens, the listowner sets the offending subscriber to nomail; the subscriber is unaware of any problems until a few days after returning from the month on the French Riviera he thinks, "Hmmmm. I wonder why I haven's seen any FOLKDJ-L messages in a while...?" So, please heed our advice: set your FOLKDJ-L subscription to nomail if you're going away for a while!

Signing off the FOLKDJ-L list

To cancel your folkdj-l subscription, send the command

signoff folkdj-l

Or send a blank email message to folkdj-l-signoff-request@lists.psu.edu.

For more information

You may check your subscription status by visiting the Listserv web interface. Or, send a

query folkdj-l

command via email to the Listserv address.

Additional information is available from Listserv. Send the

info

command for a list of available documentation.  

Still have questions? For personal assistance, contact the list owners, Paul Stamler, Mike Regenstreif, Bob Blackman and Arthur Berman by using our handy comment form. Provide a full explanation of your problem, and be sure to include copies of any bounce messages you may receive.