Some of the answers below involve sending listserv commands. When you do this, you need to send an e-mail addressed to LISTSERV@HMSSURPRISE.ORG, with the command in the body of the message. The subject line can be anything you want. Remember, do not send these commands to GUNROOM@HMSSURPRISE.ORG, as it will end up in the inbox of hundreds of list members! The blue e-mail addresses are hotlinks to open your default mail program with the appropriate "To:" address and command pre-specified. If you are not subscribed to the Gunroom with your default mail program, you'll have to create the messages by hand.
How do I join the list?
How do I leave the list permanently?
How can I temporarily stop list mail and then later turn it back on again?
How can I subscribe to the list but get fewer messages (digest format)?
How can I change the e-mail address with which I am subscribed?
Why am I suddenly receiving the list in digest form? I'm sure I didn't do it myself.
When I try to send a picture file as an attachment, it doesn't come through. What can I do about it?
What has happened to my lovely formatting?
Why aren't my posts reaching the list, even though I'm receiving other Gunroom messages?
I'm not getting any messages at all. What's happened? What should I do?
I love playing around with settings. What more can I change?
How can I get more help?
How do I join the list?
Send mail to: LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message:
SUBSCRIBE GUNROOM FirstName LastName
(Substitute your own first & last names.)
How do I leave the list permanently?
Send mail to: LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message:
SIGNOFF GUNROOM
How can I temporarily stop list mail and then later turn it back on again?
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 mail to: LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message:
SET GUNROOM NOMAIL
When you want to start getting list mail again:
Send mail to: LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message:
SET GUNROOM MAIL
and you will resume receiving messages as before.
How can I subscribe to the list but get fewer messages (digest format)?
This list is available in digest form which means that instead of getting each message as it is sent, you will get from one to six Digests, each containing about 15 or 20 messages, per day. You can still send your own messages to the list at any time, but instead of receiving 100+ individual messages/day you'll only receive a few large grouped messages.
If you wish to receive the digested version of the postings:
Send mail to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message:
SET GUNROOM DIGEST
If you would prefer the digest in the body of the messages you receive rather than as an attachment, send a message SET GUNROOM NOMIME to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG.
To set your account to normal after being set to digest mode:
Send mail to: LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message:
SET GUNROOM NODIGEST
How can I change the e-mail address with which I am subscribed?
From your old address, send mail to: LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message:
CHANGE GUNROOM <new address>
If you no longer have access to your old address, send an e-mail to GUNROOM-REQUEST[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG requesting assistance.
Why am I suddenly receiving the list in digest form? I'm sure I didn't do it myself.
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[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Body of message: SET GUNROOM NODIGEST
When I try to send a picture file as an attachment, it doesn't come through. What can I do about it?
The listserv software is set to strip all attachments. Pictures intended for the list's enjoyment can be uploaded to the Gunroom's short term gallery page.
What has happened to my lovely formatting?
The listserv software is set to convert all messages to plain text. Your HTML formatting will be lost.
Why aren't my posts reaching the list, even though I'm receiving other Gunroom messages?
To ward off spammers, 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[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG.
If you have a Gmail account, be aware that Gmail automatically and irrevocably deletes from your inbox the version of your message sent back from the server, considering it a duplicate of the message that you sent out. You will find copies of your message in your "Sent" and "All mail" folders. If someone replies to your message, the whole message thread will then appear in your inbox.
I'm not getting any messages at all. What's happened? What should I do?
If you haven't gotten any Gunroom messages for some time, the list is probably down. (This list is rarely "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[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Message body: 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[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]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.
I love playing around with settings. What more can I change?
The 'default' settings (what you will get if you don't change anything) are:
MIME -- if you get a digest it will come as an attachment rather than in the body of the message
SUBJECTHDR -- [POB] will be at the start of the subject of each message
NOCONCEAL -- Your name will be available to list members who send a REVIEW command, unless you signed on as 'Anonymous' in which case it is set to CONCEAL.
REPRO -- You will get a copy of the messages you send to the list
NOACK -- You will not get a separate acknowledgment of messages that you have sent
Some options you may want to change:
By default, you will see a list identifier ([POB] in the SUBJECT line of messages from the list server. You can turn this feature off by sending:
SET GUNROOM NOSUBJ to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Also by default when you hit REPLY to a message from the list, your reply will go to the list rather than the sender of the message. You can change this by sending:
SET GUNROOM IETFHDR to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG
Note, however, that if you use this command you will not be able to get the list identifier in your SUBJECT line as it is not compatible with the IETFHDR option.
Please note that unless you subscribed as Anonymous it is 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 who did not chose "Anonymous" when subscribing. If you do not want your name to be in the REVIEW list, just send a SET GUNROOM CONCEAL command to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG.
Send SET GUNROOM NOREPRO to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG if you DO NOT want to receive your own messages.
Send SET GUNROOM ACK to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG if you DO want to get an acknowledgment of messages you've sent.
How can I get more help?
For more information about subscription options, send a QUERY GUNROOM command to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG.
More information on LISTSERV commands is in the LISTSERV reference card, which you can retrieve by sending an INFO REFCARD command to LISTSERV[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG.
If you need help from a real person, send an email to: GUNROOM-REQUEST[at]HMSSURPRISE[dot]ORG.