[Techtalk] [FAQ] techtalk List questions and help (monthly posting)

LinuxChix FAQs lcx.faqs at linuxchix.org
Sat Jan 4 20:24:09 EST 2003


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                       LinuxChix: techtalk Technical FAQ

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                       LinuxChix: techtalk Technical FAQ

  Terri Oda

  Mary Gardiner

   Copyright (c) 2002 by Terri Oda. This material may be distributed only
   subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication
   License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at
   http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).

   +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | Revision History                                                       |
   |------------------------------------------------------------------------|
   | Revision 1.2                     | October 11 2002                     |
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   | Mary divided the FAQ into sections                                     |
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   | Revision 1.2                     | September 2002                      |
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   | Terri added "How do I subscribe?" and "How do I change my subscription |
   | email address?", and rearranged some other entries.                    |
   |------------------------------------------------------------------------|
   | Revision 1.1                     | April 2002                          |
   |------------------------------------------------------------------------|
   | Mary added two questions about replying to the lists, and HTML mail,   |
   | to Terri's original FAQ.                                               |
   |------------------------------------------------------------------------|
   | Revision 1.0                     | March 2002                          |
   +------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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   1. Subscribing, Unsubscribing and Configuring Your Subscription

                1.1. How do I subscribe?

                1.2. How do I unsubscribe?

                1.3. How do I change my subscription address?

                1.4. How do I get my password?

                1.5. How do I turn off mail delivery for an address?
                ('nomail' option)

   2. Replying to the Lists

                2.1. Why can't I just hit 'Reply' in my mail reader and have
                my reply go to the lists? I have to type in the address of
                the list myself!

                2.2. So, if I can't hit 'Reply', how can I reply to the
                lists?

   3. Problems with the Lists: Missing Mail and Mail Held for Approval

                3.1. I'm not getting mail from linuxchix anymore. What's
                wrong?

                3.2. My mail got "held for approval" because it said I wasn't
                a subscriber. What do I do?

                3.3. I keep making the mistake of sending from the wrong
                address. Do I need to subscribe my other address(es)?

                3.4. My mail to the linuxchix lists isn't getting through at
                all!

   4. List Etiquette

                4.1. Someone suggested I turn off HTML Mail! Why? How?

   The latest version of this FAQ can be found at
   http://www.linuxchix.org/content/docs/faqs/technical.html?listname=techtalk

   This FAQ is posted to most LinuxChix mailing lists every month.

     1. Subscribing, Unsubscribing and Configuring Your Subscription
   1.1. How do I subscribe?
        
   1.2. How do I unsubscribe?
        
   1.3. How do I change my subscription address?
        
   1.4. How do I get my password?
        
   1.5. How do I turn off mail delivery for an address? ('nomail' option)
   1.1. How do I subscribe?                                                   
        There are three common ways:                                          
                                                                              
          o The web interface                                                 
                                                                              
            Go to http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/techtalk and  
            follow the instructions given there.                              
                                                                              
          o By email                                                          
                                                                              
            Send a mail to techtalk-request at linuxchix.org with the subject    
            "subscribe" (or click on this link:                               
            mailto:techtalk-request at linuxchix.org?subject=unsubscribe)        
                                                                              
          o By asking a list admin.                                           
                                                                              
            If you're having a lot of trouble with subscribing, ask a human.  
            :) The list admins' addresses are on the bottom of the pages on   
            the web interface, and they can also be contacted using the       
            techtalk-admin at linuxchix.org address.                             
   1.2. How do I unsubscribe?                                                 
        There are three common ways:                                          
                                                                              
          o The web interface                                                 
                                                                              
            Go to http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/techtalk and  
            enter your email address in the "Edit Options" box. From there,   
            you should get a list of information about your subscription,     
            including an option to unsubscribe.                               
                                                                              
          o By email                                                          
                                                                              
            Send a mail to techtalk-request at linuxchix.org with the subject    
            "unsubscribe" (or click on this link:                             
            mailto:techtalk-request at linuxchix.org?subject=unsubscribe)        
                                                                              
          o By asking a list admin.                                           
                                                                              
            If you're having a lot of trouble with unsubscribing, ask a       
            human. :) The list admins' addresses are on the bottom of the     
            pages on the web interface, and they can also be contacted using  
            the techtalk-admin at linuxchix.org address.                         
   1.3. How do I change my subscription address?                              
        In mailman 2.0.* there is no way to change an address, so you have to 
        do this by subscribing the new address and unsubscribing the old      
        address. (See above for how to do each of these.)                     
                                                                              
        If you may still post occasionally from the old address (eg some of   
        your mail clients may be configured for the old address), you may     
        want to leave the old address subscribed and set it 'nomail'. For     
        more information, see the question "How I turn off mail delivery for  
        an address?"                                                          
   1.4. How do I get my password?                                             
        Your passwords are mailed out to you once a month, but if you want it 
        sooner, go to the listinfo page                                       
        http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/techtalk and enter your 
        email address in the "Edit Options" box at the bottom of the page.    
        This will bring up a page of information about your subscription, and 
        you can click on the button marked "Email my password to me"          
   1.5. How do I turn off mail delivery for an address? ('nomail' option)     
          o Go to the listinfo page                                           
            http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/techtalk and enter  
            the email address in the "Edit Options" box at the bottom of the  
            page.                                                             
                                                                              
          o On this options page, set "Disable mail delivery" to "On", enter  
            your password in the box at the bottom, and press "Submit my      
            Changes"                                                          
     2. Replying to the Lists
   2.1. Why can't I just hit 'Reply' in my mail reader and have my reply go
   to the lists? I have to type in the address of the list myself!
        
   2.2. So, if I can't hit 'Reply', how can I reply to the lists?
   2.1. Why can't I just hit 'Reply' in my mail reader and have my reply go   
        to the lists? I have to type in the address of the list myself!       
        The LinuxChix lists do not have the Reply-To header set to the list   
        address. Hence when you press Reply, the reply goes to the original   
        sender.                                                               
                                                                              
        There are many good reasons why LinuxChix lists do not have the       
        Reply-To set. These reasons are explained in Chip Rosenthal's essay   
        Reply-To munging considered harmful. If you have an argument that is  
        not addressed in this essay, bring it up on the lists and the         
        LinuxChix admins may reconsider their decision.                       
   2.2. So, if I can't hit 'Reply', how can I reply to the lists?             
        Almost all mail readers have a 'Reply All' or 'Group Reply' option,   
        which will reply to the original author and Cc the list. Most people  
        choose to reply this way.                                             
                                                                              
        If you wish to reply just to the list, you can either put the list    
        address in the To field manually, or you can use a mail reader that   
        has a 'Reply To List' function. Some mailers which have a 'Reply To   
        List' function are: KMail and mutt. Let us know if you hear of any    
        more!                                                                 
     3. Problems with the Lists: Missing Mail and Mail Held for Approval
   3.1. I'm not getting mail from linuxchix anymore. What's wrong?
        
   3.2. My mail got "held for approval" because it said I wasn't a
   subscriber. What do I do?
        
   3.3. I keep making the mistake of sending from the wrong address. Do I
   need to subscribe my other address(es)?
        
   3.4. My mail to the linuxchix lists isn't getting through at all!
   3.1. I'm not getting mail from linuxchix anymore. What's wrong?            
        There are a few possibilities:                                        
                                                                              
          o No one has sent any mail to the list(s) you're on for a little    
            while.                                                            
                                                                              
            To check if this is the case, visit the archives at               
            http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/techtalk/.                 
                                                                              
          o You were bouncing mail and have had mail delivery (temporarily)   
            disabled by the list software.                                    
                                                                              
            If you bounce too many messages, the list software stops trying   
            to send you mail. To check if this is the case, go to             
            http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/techtalk, enter     
            your email address in the box near the bottom where the button    
            says "Edit Options", and check to make sure that you are set to   
            be receiving mail. Change it if you're not and your address is    
            working again.                                                    
                                                                              
            If you didn't know you were bouncing already, you can ask the     
            list admins for a copy of the bounced message to help you figure  
            out what went wrong.                                              
                                                                              
          o The mailing list is actually down.                                
                                                                              
            Try pinging linuxchix.org to see if the machine is up and your    
            machine can reach it. If it is, try contacting one of the admins  
            to find out what's going on.                                      
   3.2. My mail got "held for approval" because it said I wasn't a            
        subscriber. What do I do?                                             
        If you want the mail to go through right away, your best option is to 
        re-send it from the address at which you're subscribed. If you        
        re-send, don't be surprised if you see a duplicate copy come through  
        later when a listadmin approves it without noticing that you've       
        resent.                                                               
                                                                              
        If you're not in a hurry or don't want to or can't re-send, most      
        legitimate posts will be approved by an admin when she gets them and  
        has time to deal with them. This usually takes less than a day,       
        sometimes two, but can take longer if the list admins are busy.       
                                                                              
        If this happens more than a few times, please see the question below  
        "Do I need to subscribe my other address(es)?"                        
   3.3. I keep making the mistake of sending from the wrong address. Do I     
        need to subscribe my other address(es)?                               
        We prefer that you do subscribe any address you use frequently for    
        posting. This lowers the workload on our volunteers *and* means that  
        your posts will get through to the lists more quickly. Since you can  
        subscribe an address without receiving mail to that address, it's     
        often easier to just subscribe an address than to remember to switch  
        your From: line!                                                      
                                                                              
        To do this, subscribe the address (see instructions under "How do I   
        subscribe?") and then disable mail delivery (see instructions under   
        "How do I disable mail delivery to an address?").                     
   3.4. My mail to the linuxchix lists isn't getting through at all!          
        It is possible that there is some error with the machine hosting the  
        linuxchix.org mailing lists. Check the archives of the list, linked   
        from http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo to see if your     
        post has appeared. Check if there have been other posts to the list   
        in the last few days. Mail the list admin using the the address made  
        by placing -admin after the list name (the techtalk admins' email is  
        <techtalk-admin at linuxchix.org>) to ask if there is a problem.         
                                                                              
        At present, the LinuxChix hosts are using Realtime Blackhole List     
        filtering on LinuxChix lists. If your mail is originating from a      
        computer that is a known open relay, then your post to LinuxChix will 
        bounce. If this is the case, and you are using an ISP account, you    
        should be using their SMTP server to relay your mail rather than      
        connecting directly - ask their technical support what the SMTP       
        server's address is and ask them or us how to set up your mail to go  
        via their server. If no then you might want to investigate how to be  
        removed from the RBL. You might want to let us know by asking someone 
        to forward mail to us.                                                
     4. List Etiquette
   4.1. Someone suggested I turn off HTML Mail! Why? How?
   4.1. Someone suggested I turn off HTML Mail! Why? How?                     
        Short answer: Instructions for turning off HTML mail in many clients  
        can be found at http://www.expita.com/nomime.html                     
                                                                              
        HTML formatting is used to format your mail in the same way that web  
        pages can be formatted. It is used by default by many mail readers.   
                                                                              
        However, there are many many people subscribed to the LinuxChix lists 
        (and to most other lists). A substantial number of those people do    
        not like to receive HTML mail on lists.                               
                                                                              
        These groups include:                                                 
                                                                              
          o Some subscribers who use text-based email clients that can't      
            display web pages (please note that most common text-based email  
            clients, including Pine and Mutt, can in fact produce a text      
            version of HTML mail, if you don't know how to do this with your  
            client, you might want to ask the <techtalk at linuxchix.org> list   
            about it).                                                        
                                                                              
          o Subscribers who get the digest version of the lists (they receive 
            one mail a day containing all the mail to the list that day,      
            rather than receiving each mail as it is sent to the list). Your  
            HTML mail is simply bundled in with all the text mails and loses  
            the headers that allow most mailers to recognise and render your  
            HTML mail properly.                                               
                                                                              
          o Subscribers who have expensive and slow connections. HTML mail is 
            larger than text mail because of all the extra formatting that    
            comes with it.                                                    
                                                                              
          o Our generous server hosts, whose server must send out hundreds of 
            copies of your large HTML mails (if the HTML adds 500 bytes to    
            your email, that could mean 100K of extra work for the LinuxChix  
            server!). Our hosts are volunteers and their bandwidth is not     
            infinite!                                                         

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