Cameron Palmer wrote:
>
> How do you get off this merry-go-round?


Please save this message for future  reference, especially if you are
not familiar with LISTSERV.  This might look like a waste  of disk
space now, but in  6 months  you will be  glad you saved  this
information when you realize that  you cannot remember what  are the
lists you  are subscribed to, or  what is the command  to leave the
list to avoid filling  up your mailbox while you are on vacations. In
fact, you should create a new mail folder for subscription
confirmation messages  like this one, and for the "welcome  messages"
from the  list  owners  that you will occasionally receive after
subscribing to a new list.

To send  a message to  all the people  currently subscribed to  the
list, just send mail to PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU. This is called
"sending mail to the list", because  you send mail to a single
address and LISTSERV makes copies   for  all   the  people   who  have
subscribed.  This   address (PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU)  is also  called
the "list  address". You  must never try to send any command to that
address, as it would be distributed to all the people  who have
subscribed. All commands must  be sent to the "LISTSERV address",
LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (or LISTSERV@MITVMA.BITNET).  It is  very
important to understand  the difference between the  two, but
fortunately it  is not complicated.  The LISTSERV  address is like  a
FAX number,  and  the list  address  is  like a  normal  phone  line.
If  you accidentally  make  your  FAX  call  someone's  voice  line,
the  person receiving the  call will be annoyed.  If you do this
regularly, however, your  victim will  probably  get seriously  upset
and  send  you a  nasty complaint. It  is the same with  mailing
lists, with the  difference that you are calling  hundreds or
thousands of  people at the same  time, so a lot more people get
annoyed if you use the wrong number.

You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF PICLIST"
command
to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (or LISTSERV@MITVMA.BITNET). You can also
tell
LISTSERV how you want  it to confirm the receipt of  messages you send
to
the list.  If you  do not trust  the system, send  a "SET  PICLIST
REPRO"
command and LISTSERV will  send you a copy of your  own messages, so
that
you can see that  the message was distributed and did  not get damaged
on
the  way. After  a while  you  may find  that this  is getting
annoying,
especially if  your mail program  does not tell  you that the  message
is
from you when it  informs you that new mail has  arrived from PICLIST.
If
you send  a "SET PICLIST ACK  NOREPRO" command, LISTSERV will  mail
you a
short acknowledgement instead, which will  look different in your
mailbox
directory. With most mail programs you will know immediately that this
is
an  acknowledgement  you  can  read  later. Finally,  you  can  turn
off
acknowledgements completely with "SET PICLIST NOACK NOREPRO".

Following  instructions from  the list  owner, your  subscription
options
have been set  to "CONCEAL" rather than the usual  LISTSERV defaults.
For
more  information  about subscription  options,  send  a "QUERY
PICLIST"
command to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (or LISTSERV@MITVMA.BITNET).

Contributions sent to this list are automatically archived. You can
get a
list of the available archive files by sending an "INDEX PICLIST"
command
to  LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU  (or  LISTSERV@MITVMA.BITNET). You  can
then
order  these  files  with  a  "GET PICLIST  LOGxxxx"  command,  or
using
LISTSERV's database  search facilities.  Send an "INFO  DATABASE"
command
for more information on the latter.

More  information on  LISTSERV  commands  can be  found  in the
LISTSERV
reference  card, which  you can  retrieve  by sending  an "INFO
REFCARD"
command to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (or LISTSERV@MITVMA.BITNET).