Hi, everybody:
It's that time of year again, when the question comes up, "How do I put my mail
on hold for the RootsWeb lists I'm subscribed to so I can visit the old family
homestead on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks?" You, of course, will substitute your
favorite relaxation spot in place of Schroon Lake....
Well, here is how. You will save your overworked list admin (poor, poor, pitiful me) a
great deal of unnecessary putzing about if you follow the excellent directions in the
following article, published in RootsWeb Review: 16 June 2004, Vol. 7, No. 24. In fact,
these are excellent directions **ALL** the time.
It will also save **YOU** some unnecessary putzing about; if you don't follow the
directions, you won't accomplish what you want, your mailbox gets full, the RootsWeb
list robots whine at both of us, your ISP grumbles at you ... you get the picture. So,
here we go!
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Gone Fishing?
"Summertime and the livin' is easy" is how the familiar song from
"Porgy
and Bess" goes. For RootsWeb users in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is
nearly here and that often brings with it vacations (holidays), long
weekend fishing trips, beach house visits or trips to the cabin in the
mountains. All of which means time away from genealogical research, time
away from your computer and your e-mail. What should you do when you are
going to be away temporarily from your RootsWeb mailing lists?
Depending upon the length of time you will be away, the capacity of your
mailbox, and the activity level of the lists to which you subscribe; you
may choose either to remain subscribed to the lists and catch up on your
mail when you return or unsubscribe (especially from the busiest high-
volume lists) and re-subscribe when you get home. RootsWeb list software
does not have a temporary "NO-MAIL" setting. However, unsubscribing and
re-subscribing is easy and will accomplish the purpose.
If you choose to unsubscribe from all, or just some, RootsWeb mailing
lists during your vacation, first check Password Central to verify to
which lists you are subscribed.
http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/
Once you obtain a list of your subscribed lists, address a new e-mail
message to the list "request" addresses for the lists from which you
wish to unsub. The "request" address is used to send your command or
instructions that can either unsubscribe or subscribe you from a list.
The format for addressing a message to the request address is:
--if you are subscribed in mail mode (receiving every individual message
list members send to the list) or
LISTNAME-L-request(a)rootsweb.com
--if you are subscribed in digest mode (receiving list messages lumped
together in digest format).
LISTNAME-D-request(a)rootsweb.com
Replace the generic word LISTNAME above with the actual name of the
list. For instance, if you wish to unsubscribe from the SMITH surname
list, and you are subscribed in mail mode send your request to
SMITH-L-request(a)rootsweb.com, or to SMITH-D-request(a)rootsweb.com
to unsubscribe from the digests.
Be sure to put the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject and message body of
your e-mail and don't include any other text. If you wish to
unsubscribe from more than one list at the same time, you can show
multiple "request" addresses in the SEND TO box of your e-mail with the
addresses separated by a comma just as you would if you were sending an
e-mail to several individuals at one time.
Keep a record of the mailing list names for the lists from which you
have unsubbed so that you can easily address a new e-mail to the same
list request addresses when you return with the word SUBSCRIBE in the
subject and message body to get back on the lists you temporarily left.
Note: Never send a REPLY e-mail to subscribe to, or unsubscribe from, a
list -- always send a NEW e-mail.
Upon your return from summer fun, you can browse the archives of your
mailing lists to catch up on the messages you missed. Start here:
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/
Type in the name of the list you wish to browse and then select the
month and year to view an outline of the messages you wish to read.
Next, click to view any or all individual messages.
So, if the fish are biting this summer or the seashore looks inviting,
leave the laptop at home and don't worry about the "the big one" getting
away because you are not home to view responses to your genealogical
research queries. You can catch up with mailing list messages when you
return.
================================
Thank you for reading this! And thanks in advance for following the
directions. It will help you at least as much as it helps me.
Darrell
list admin
Darrell A. Martin - RootsWeb list admin
e-Mail: darrellm(a)sprynet.com
List rules:
http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm