This automatic reply was generated by an email you sent to piclist@MITVMA.MIT.EDU with out a topic tag at the start of the subject line. The PICList is currently experimenting with the use of topics and topic filtering to try to allow a greater range of discussion while still respecting the fact that many hardcore PIC engineers, who are valuable resources to the list, may have little time to read off topic posts and need a reliable way to filter them out so that they can spend what time they have concentrating on the [PIC]: topic. Topic tags must be at the start of the subject line, enclosed in brackets "[" and "]" and followed by a colon ":". For example, the current topics are [PIC]: Which should be at the start of the subject line for most postings to the PICList. This says that a PIC microcontroller (or clone like the SX line) is directly involved, connected or the entire subject of your post. Any person who works with PICs would want to read it... [EE]: Items which have little connection to PICs, but may be of interest to electrical engineers. [OT]: Items which have little or no conection to the PICLIST, but are asked by its members anyway. [AD]: This is for advertisements of a commercial product or service. Don't SPAM, do post [AD]: If you don't use one of these, other people will not see your posts. People who are interested only in the PIC itself listen to [PIC]:, people who are also interested in general engineering issues also listen to [EE]: and people who are also interested in anything PICListers have to say also listen to [OT]:. People who are interested in buying or selling also listen to [AD]:. Please pick ONE that matches the subject of your post and type it at the start of the subject line (don't forget the colon) and then continue. Putting a topic tag in, filters the post IN to that topic rather than filtering it OUT of the other topics like it used to. Ok? Let me say that again... Putting a topic tag in, filters the post IN to that topic rather than filtering it OUT of the other topics like it used to. The point of this is that it will reduce the likelihood of people posting comments about the space program with [PIC]: at the start of the subject line. It also breaks up the PICList in to "Channels" where each topic can be turned on or off with a command to the list server. If you are very busy, then you can only turn on the [PIC]: channel and turn the others off. Just tell the list server to only send [PIC]: topics by sending SET PICLIST TOPICS: [PIC] to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU or, in most email clients, by clicking on the following: mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20%5BPIC%5D%20 You can now turn on or off any of the topic channels by sending SET PICLIST TOPICS: followed by a plus or minus sign and the topic tag (without the colon) to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU. If you don't want advertisements, click on: mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20-%5BAD%5D%20 or if you do: mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20+%5BAD%5D%20 If you don't want posts that are not about PICs or at least electrical engineering, turn off the [OT]: channel by clicking on: mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20-%5BOT%5D%20 when you get board try: mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20+%5BOT%5D%20 For no engineering (but not PIC) posts use: mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20-%5BEE%5D%20 or turn [EE]: back on with mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20+%5BEE%5D%20 One special channel that should be mentioned is the Other: channel. This is were posts that don't have the correct topic tags are sent. If you are seeing this post, you have the Other: channel enabled. If you have all this down and are tired of seeing this automatic reply, you can turn off the Other: channel by sending SET PICLIST TOPICS: -Other to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU or, in most email clients, click here: mailto:LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU?body=SET%20PICLIST%20TOPICS:%20-%5Bother%5D%2 0 We have included the brackets in most topic tags so that people can subscribe to both [PIC] and [OT] and then filter the [OT]'s into another folder for later (low priority) reading... or other such stuff like that. [ADMIN] posts (about the list but not related to the list topic) will be sent to topic ALL: which is a special tag that sends the message to all subscribers no matter what. We will still include [ADMIN] after the ALL: to let people know that it is an admin post. As far as we know, digest subscriptions can not benifit from topic filtering. We will try to find a way to make this available in the future. PICList-Request@MITVMA.MIT.EDU is the address for the list of PICList admin persons. This would be the email address to send complaints about other list members, help requests when you are experiencing problems etc... For other questions about the PICList please see the PICList FAQ at http://www.piclist.com or http://www.piclist.org If this is not what you wanted at all and you need to get off the PICList entirely, the address is: mailto:piclist-signoff-request@mitvma.mit.edu And finally, if this is just frustrating and you are really tired of it and want to go back to the way it was, please let me know: mailto:jamesnewton@piclist.com?subject=TIRED_OF_TOPICS If enough people feel that way, we will dump the topic thing and just go back to the PICList as it was. Thanks for participating in the PICList! James Newton mailto:jamesnewton@geocities.com phone:1-619-652-0593 http://techref.homepage.com NOW OPEN (R/O) TO NON-MEMBERS! Members can add private/public comments/pages ($0 TANSTAAFL web hosting) PIC/PICList FAQ: http://www.piclist.com