The Gunroom

Frequently Asked Questions - Working the List


  1. How do I temporarily unsubscribe from this list?
  2. How do I subscribe to the list but not get mail all day?
  3. Why am I suddenly receiving the list in digest form? I'm sure I didn't do it myself.
  4. How can I set things so a reply goes both to the author and the list (rather than just the list)?
  5. When I try to send a picture file as an attachment, it doesn't come through. What can I do about it?
  6. Why do I get <garbage> in the digest?
    Why do I get each message twice, the second time with <garbage>?
    Why are some messages too small, weird colours or otherwise unreadable?
  7. Why aren't my posts reaching the list, even though I'm receiving Gunroom messages?
  8. I'm not getting any messages. What's happened? What should I do?

  1. How do I temporarily unsubscribe from this list?
  2. If you are going on vacation or otherwise need to unsubscribe for a short period of time, you might want to go "nomail" instead of unsubscribing.

    Send to: LISTSERV@HMSSurprise.org
    message: SET GUNROOM NOMAIL

    When you want to return to the list,

    Send to: LISTSERV@HMSSurprise.org
    message: SET GUNROOM MAIL

    and you will resume receiving messages as before.

  3. How do I subscribe to the list but not get mail all day?
  4. To subscribe to the less-trafficky digest:

    Send to:  LISTSERV@HMSSurprise.org
    message: SET GUNROOM DIGEST

  5. Why am I suddenly receiving the list in digest form? I'm sure I didn't do it myself.
  6. You probably let your mailbox fill up. — When a lissun's mail account fills up, any incoming messages are bounced back to the sender. In the case of List messages, the List Admins get copies. With as many as 150 messages per day, and between 15 and 20 full lissun mailboxes, it floods our mailboxes.

    In order to reduce the flood, we set the bouncing accounts to digest. This has the added benefit of reducing the number of missed messages to the full mailboxes.

    To restore your account to normal:

    Send to: LISTSERV@HMSSurprise.org
    message: SET GUNROOM NODIGEST

  7. How can I set things so a reply goes both to the author and the list (rather than just the list)?
  8. Try the following, which may or may not work for your mail program.

    Send to: LISTSERV@HMSSurprise.org
    message: SET GUNROOM IETFHDR

    If you are having problems with any of these List Server commands, you can get help from a real person at GUNROOM-request@HMSSurprise.org

  9. When I try to send a picture file as an attachment, it doesn't come through. What can I do about it?
  10. The listserv software is set to strip all attachments. Pictures intended for the list's enjoyment can be uploaded to the Photo Short-term Gallery page.

  11. Why do I get <garbage> in the digest?
    Why do I get each message twice, the second time with <garbage>?
    Why are some messages too small, weird colours or otherwise unreadable?
  12. These are all problems caused by mail being sent out with HTML or other formatting. This is bad practice, but unfortunately, many people are unaware of the problems they are causing, or don't know how to fix them. Helen Connor and Barbara Baker have published a guide dealing with this and other technical issues, found at the Gunroom Posting Guide.

  13. Why aren't my posts reaching the list, even though I'm receiving Gunroom messages?
  14. To ward off spammers (people and organizations that solicit via the Internet by posting, often anonymously and untraceably, to mailing lists and newsgroups), we have made this a closed list; only subscribers may post. If you are having trouble posting, you may be subscribed under a different address than the one by which you receive mail. Get help from a real person at GUNROOM-request@HMSSurprise.org

  15. I'm not getting any messages. What's happened? What should I do?
  16. If you haven't gotten any Gunroom messages for a while, the list is probably down. (This list is never just "unusually quiet.") To be sure, you might want to check the archives to see if there has been any traffic that you alone haven't received. When the list goes down, the list administrators are usually aware of it fairly quickly. Chances are, they are already working on the problem.

    You can also test the server, and your mail:

    Send to: LISTSERV@HMSSurprise.org
    message: QUERY GUNROOM

    This will return a message giving your subscription options, or a message saying that you are not subscribed (you may have been auto-deleted, or you may be using a different address).

    If your tests indicate the list is up, but you are not getting any messages, request help from the list administrators at GUNROOM-request@HMSSurprise.org

    Another possibility is that your ISP has declared the Gunroom's host a SPAM-generator and blacklisted us. When this happens the list adminitrators receive "bounce" messages, informing us of the fact. We then try to notify the affected lissun to help rectify the problem.


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( Page last modified 19 May 2007 )