liblicense-l digest problems (and how to fix them)

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Dear liblicense-l readers:

Some of you have experienced difficulty in reading the contents of
liblicense-l digests.  For example, some messages may not appear even
though they are listed as being part of the digest.

Here's what is happening:

Unless you specify otherwise, list digests are sent as MIME attachments
with an email message which contains the table of contents. These
attachments may not always be readable. They may be stripped or held up by
intervening servers after being sent. Also - some email clients, because
of the way they are set, may not display attachments, may require you to
open them in different way, or may strip them on their own. For example,
Outlook 2002 is one client that has been redesigned to do this in response
to complaints about email borne computer viruses, which are carried as
attachments.

In other words - everyone is sent the content they request, but how they
receive it depends upon how it is transmitted after leaving Yale, and what
you are using to receive and read it. Obviously neither the list owners,
the list administrator, nor you can control what happens between points on
the Internet.  However the Internet is not a quiet pond. Servers change,
routes change, protocols change, conventions change. For that matter - the
ways that people compose and send messages change as well. Just because
you were able to do something yesterday, does not mean that you will be
able to do it today, even though neither we nor you have changed our
respective systems or habits.

There are about 3000 persons subscribed to this list.  Most of you will
probably not have to do anything. Only those of you who experience
difficulty with digests should try one of these two solutions to work
around whatever is interfering with them.

What to do:

All Liblicense-L email is caught by a streaming email reader and presented
in searchable form on the web at-
www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml

1) If you want to be able to send to the list, read responses, and not
worry about receiving list mail, bookmark
<www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml> and then send simple plain
text email to the listproc server to turn off receiving email from the
list (this email must have no HTML, nothing in the subject line, and nor
extra words or comments such as a signature)

EXAMPLE:

from:  demeter@earthshaker.com
to: listproc@lists.yale.edu
subject: [LEAVE THIS BLANK]

set LIBLICENSE-L mail postpone

**

2) If you prefer to continue receiving list digests directly, you can tell
are server not to send them as MIME attachments 

from:  demeter@earthshaker.com
to: listproc@lists.yale.edu
subject: [LEAVE THIS BLANK]

set LIBLICENSE-L mail digest-nomime

**

This should cause you to receive plain text digests.

Those of you who elect the first option of reading the web are taking a
step into the future. To large degree, mailing lists and mailing list
managers are an older limited technology. One of the reasons for some
problems people have observed is that this way of handling messages is
becoming less compatible with new ways that the world is using to conduct
business. In a few years time - lists will probably be superseded by web
portals or other technology that will allow people to subscribe to,
interact with, and exchange data faster, more securely, and more
effectively. This element of change, while frustrating at times, is part
of the mechanism of the world we participate in. Some people in the 19th
century had a nice sense of the nature of change:

"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
       And God fulfills himself in many ways,
       Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
	 - Alfred  Lord Tennyson - Idylls of the King


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