SWINE-L FAQ

Topics:

Note: If you have difficulty using mailto: links here, try again from your usual email program.

The University of Minnesota offers a web-based interface to manage your subscription at http://lists.umn.edu/

Message content types

Only plain text messages will be accepted. No HTML; no attachments. Subscribers are welcome to post in their native language if it is more convenient, however the majority of discussion is in English.

Turning off HTML, etc (if your specific software and operating system is not listed here, this should at least give you a hint; if you'd like to offer instructions for an additional package, please send them to swine-l-request@tc.umn.edu):

  • Microsoft Outlook Express
    • Version 5, Windows 9x: Tools/Options... click Send tab. Change "Mail Sending Format" to "Plain Text".
    • If you have SWINE-L listed as one of your contacts, right click the contact and select its Properties. Click the Name tab and turn on the 'Send E-Mail using plain text only' for the SWINE-L contact.
    • Spanish-language explanation of how to turn off HTML email in Outlook
      Express:
      • Vamos a ver si conseguimos no enviar mensajes HTML para que David no nos eche la bronca, creo que es asÌ:
      • Para quitar el formato HTML
      • Para quitar el formato HTML en todos los mensajes salientes
      • En la ventana principal, haga clic en el men Herramientas y, despuÈs, haga
        clic en Opciones.
      • Haga clic en la ficha Enviar y, despuÈs, comprube que no est· activado HTML en las ·reas Formato para el envÌo de correo y Formato para el envÌo de noticias.
      • Si envÌa un mensaje con formato HTML a un programa de correo electrÛnico que no admita HTML, es posible que el mensaje aparezca como un archivo adjunto.
      • Para configurar Outlook Express de modo que las respuestas a los mensajes se envÌen en un formato que el programa de correo o de lectura de noticias pueda leer, haga clic en el men Herramientas y, despuÈs, haga clic en Opciones. En la ficha Enviar, asegrese de que estÈ activada la casilla de verificaciÛn Responder a los mensajes en el formato en que fueron enviados.
  • Netscape Communicator
    • Version 4.5, MacOS: Edit/Preferences... select Mail and Newsgroups/Formatting. Under "When sending HTML messages..." choose either "Ask me what to do..." (and don't send HTML to SWINE-L) or choose "Convert the message to plain text...". Alternately, you can set "Message formatting" to "Use the plain text editor..."

Scope of discussion

The list is intended primarily for swine veterinarians and discussion of swine medicine, practice, applied research, etc. The list is currently open to anyone and topics have on occasion been more production-oriented.

Occasionally, subscribers will post offers to send copies of papers, etc. Please reply directly to the sender; responses sent to the list will be forwarded or sent back or ignored, depending on the moderator's current workload.

Privacy

It probably isn't a good idea to expect any confidentiality in what you post to SWINE-L. All postings are distributed to hundreds of people. They are also stored indefinitely by the host listserv and possibly by other computers on the Internet. Imagine that you're writing a letter to the editor (and that it will be printed without benefit of any editing).

Commercial announcements

If you wish to make a commercial announcement please:

  • Ensure that your product/service is of use to swine veterinarians
  • Begin the Subject: line with "Commercial:" or "Ad:"
  • Post the message only once
  • Keep it to a screenful (70 columns by 20 lines)
  • Clearly state the company being represented
  • Provide a contact so anyone interested cam obtain additional information

We're glad that this list has not been abused; it makes it easier to use. If there's ever a problem, please let me know.

I'm not getting messages anymore!

It can be weeks between messages to SWINE-L (except for the SPAM which I delete). It's possible that your address generated a bounce -- say, if you were on vacation and your mailbox filled up. Let us know the problem (any error messages you get will be useful) and we'll try to help. Send help requests either to swine-l-request@tc.umn.edu or directly to me at webmaster@aasv.org.

Why don't I see messages I send?

This is the default for this version of the LISTSERV software. You can send the following message to change it:

To: listserv@lists.umn.edu
Subject: <none>

SET SWINE-L REP

Again, you should make sure your signature is turned off. To put it back to the default, just send the above message, changing REP to NOREP. The listserv software will prevent your accidentally sending the same (or a substantially similar) message twice.

Changing your email address

We've received a number of requests to "change" the email address for users. We are willing to do this, but there's an easier and much more reliable way:

  1. Subscribe to SWINE-L from the new address/account. (Instructions are here.) This allows you to continue to send and receive SWINE-L messages.
  2. Unsubscribe from SWINE-L from the old address/account if you still have access. If you no longer have access to the old address, please send email and tell us what the old address was; we'll delete it for you.

Renewing subscriptions

In order to keep our subscriber list trimmed down to size, you will be asked to "renew" your subscription every six months or so by sending the following message:

To: listserv@lists.umn.edu
Subject: <none>

CONFIRM SWINE-L

If you don't send this message within a month (after it sends the renewal notice), your subscription will automatically be deleted. If this happens and you wish to continue receiving SWINE-L, just resubscribe. (Instructions are here.) The listserv won't hold a grudge... just wants to make sure you're really there.

Going on vacation

Many email systems (Compuserve has been particularly problematic, if one can judge by the error messages I receive) impose a limit on the number or total size of messages you can leave on the system. Normally, this isn't a problem, but if (for example) you go on vacation, SWINE-L messages might fill up your mailbox and cause more important messages to "bounce" (be returned to the sender, undelivered). The listserv software provides two commands which can be of some use:

To: listserv@lists.umn.edu
Subject: <none>

SET SWINE-L NOMAIL

This will suspend delivery of SWINE-L messages to your email address. You will still be able to send email to SWINE-L. To resume delivery, simply change "NOMAIL" to "MAIL".

To: listserv@lists.umn.edu
Subject: <none>

SET SWINE-L DIGEST

This will combine all SWINE-L messages for a given day into a single message sent to your account. To change back to receiving individual messages, change "DIGEST" to "NODIGEST". Note that this combined digest will be at least as large as the combined size of each individual message. However, if you know that your email system worries more about the total count of unread email rather than the size of the messages in your inbox, it may be of some help.

Contrary to the online help ("GET INFO") available online from the listserv, the "INDEX" command is no longer available. Too bad. That one reduced both message count and size.

Searching old messages

SWINE-L is archived by the listserv. (It may also be archived by other sites on the 'net; I really don't know.) Messages are collected into large files, each of which holds a month's messages. To retieve a list of the archive files, send the following message:

To: listserv@lists.umn.edu
Subject: <none>

INDEX SWINE-L

You can probably skip this initial step, though... the file names are all in the format "LOGyymm" where "yy" are the last two digits of the year and "mm" is a 2-digit month (use a leading zero if needed). So, to retrieve a log file of all messages sent in July, 1994 (the earliest messages still online; no guarantees that they'll stay there!), send the following message:

To: listserv@lists.umn.edu
Subject: <none>

GET SWINE-L LOG9407

I don't know of any way to ask the listserv to search within the log files for specific subjects, etc. Please let me (webmaster@aasv.org) know if you find one. For now, you'll have to do the searching yourself after downloading the logs.

Who's on the list?

Sorry; we won't say. There are about 360 people at the beginning of 2007, down from historical peaks around 600. To help reduce the possibility of your getting "spammed" by junk email, the list of subscribers is not available (except to the list owners).

Getting more information or help

To change your subscription options, send commands to the listserv@lists.umn.edu address. For a list of subscription options, send the following message:

To: listserv@lists.umn.edu
Subject: <none>

INFO REFCARD

If you have any difficulty which you can't fix yourself, please send email either to swine-l-request@lists.umn.edu or directly to me at webmaster@aasv.org.