Your subscription  to the  USNA-L list (Naval  Academy Mailing  List) has
been accepted.

Please save this message for future  reference, especially if this is the
first time you subscribe to an  electronic mailing list. If you ever need
to  leave the  list,  you  will find  the  necessary instructions  below.
Perhaps  more importantly,  saving a  copy of  this message  (and of  all
future subscription notices  from other mailing lists) in  a special mail
folder will give you instant access to the list of mailing lists that you
are subscribed  to. This may  prove very useful the  next time you  go on
vacation and  need to leave  the lists temporarily so  as not to  fill up
your  mailbox while  you  are away!  You should  also  save 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 USNA-L@AMERICAN.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
(USNA-L@AMERICAN.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@AMERICAN.EDU.  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 that connects you
to  a machine,  whereas the  list  address is  like a  normal voice  line
connecting you to a person. If you make a mistake and dial the FAX number
when you wanted to talk to someone on the phone, you will quickly realize
that you  used the wrong  number and call again.  No harm will  have been
done. If on the other hand  you accidentally make your FAX call someone's
voice  line,  the  person  receiving the  call  will  be  inconvenienced,
especially if your FAX then re-dials  every 5 minutes. The fact that most
people will eventually connect the FAX machine to the voice line to allow
the FAX  to go through  and make  the calls stop  does not mean  that you
should continue to send FAXes to  the voice number. People would just get
mad at you.  It works pretty much  the same way with  mailing lists, with
the difference  that you are calling  hundreds or thousands of  people at
the same  time, and consequently  you can expect a  lot of people  to get
upset if you consistently send commands to the list address.

You may leave the list at any  time by sending a "SIGNOFF USNA-L" command
to LISTSERV@AMERICAN.EDU. 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 USNA-L  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  USNA-L. If  you send a  "SET USNA-L  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
USNA-L NOACK NOREPRO".

Following  instructions from  the list  owner, your  subscription options
have been set to "MIME" rather than the usual LISTSERV defaults. For more
information about subscription options, send  a "QUERY USNA-L" command to
LISTSERV@AMERICAN.EDU.

Please note that  it is presently possible for other  people to determine
that  you are  signed up  to the  list through  the use  of the  "REVIEW"
command,  which  returns   the  e-mail  address  and  name   of  all  the
subscribers. If  you do not  want your name to  be visible, just  issue a
"SET USNA-L CONCEAL" command.

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@AMERICAN.EDU.

 

 

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