[Web4lib] How do we set to digest now?

[Jeff Godin]

On Thu, 19 May 2005, Michael McCulley wrote:

>
> I think what was missed was..
>
> We used to be able to communicate via e-mail with the list management
> software, to do things like set digest, no mail, and so forth. I'm not sure
> if the new Webjunction site, or Mailman, can do that via e-mail --versus
> visiting the Web page/site as Andrew so carefully step-by-step showed
> how-to.

Yes, the Mailman list management software will allow you to perform
most/all of these tasks via email.

(The rest of this message is not a direct reply to Michael.)

First off, keep in mind that the list info page at
http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/web4lib will allow you to
make any changes you like to your subscription. You may find this
interface easier to use. I include the following instructions for those
that prefer to (or must) make their changes via e-mail.

The first thing to do is to determine what your membership password is.
Your membership password was likely set to something random when you
subscribed, or when your subscription was migrated from the "old" list to
the "new"  list.

With the Mailman list management software, you should have one
membership password for each list that you are subscribed to. You need
this membership password to make most changes to your list subscription.

To retrieve your membership password via email: Send a message to
web4lib-request at webjunction.org containing the command "password" in
either the subject or body of the message.

This will cause the list management software to email you your current
membership password. The request must be sent from the address that you
are subscribed to the list as.

If all goes well, you should receive a message back that contains your
membership password.

For this example, we'll assume that your membership password is "xyhmkll".

Now, armed with this password, here's the quick guide to turning digest on
or off:

Send a message to web4lib-request at webjunction.org with the following
commands in the body (lines starting with a # character are my comments,
and should not be included in your message):

# To turn digest mode off:
set authenticate xyhmkll
set digest off

# To enable digest mode, "plain" digests:
set authenticate xyhmkll
set digest plain

# To enable digest mode, "mime" digests:
set authenticate xyhmkll
set digest mime

What's the difference between "mime" and "plain" digests?

The Mailman list management interface states:

> Your mail reader may or may not support MIME digests. In general MIME
> digests are preferred, but if you have a problem reading them, select
> plain text digests.

MIME digests are sent as one message that contains many sub-messages. This
can make replying to a digest message easier -- generally, you won't have
to go through any effort to ensure that you're sending a meaningful
subject line, and you won't have to trim every other message from the
digest before sending, etc.

If your mail program isn't able to handle MIME digests, or handles them
poorly, stick with "plain" digests. These are probably closest to the
digest that you may have been familiar with before.

To enable/disable delivery of mail without unsubscribing from the list,
use one of the following commands (again, replace "xyhmkll" with your
membership password, and don't include my comments, which are lines
starting with "#"):

# To disable delivery without unsubscribingunsubscribing:
set authenticate xyhmkll
set delivery off

# To re-enable delivery:
set authenticate xyhmkll
set delivery on

For more information on what commands you can use to manage your web4lib
subscription, send a message containing the command "help" to
web4lib-request at webjunction.org. You may also find the command "help set"
useful as well.

Remember: To change your subscription options for the web4lib list, either
use the web interface at the address mentioned earlier in this message, or
send e-mail commands to web4lib-request at webjunction.org.

Hope this helps,

-jeff

-- 
Jeff Godin
Network Specialist
Traverse Area District Library / Traverse Community Network
jeff at tcnet.org