Respected EAD list Subscribers,
We believe we have corrected the email delivery problem experienced
on the EAD list this week, but are still holding our breaths. It's
not clear who or what caused the problem but we probably all know
whose subscriptions are suspect. We have not been able to determine
who "jbryan" is, the apparent source of the problem message that
has been bounced around. The subscriber in Illinois, who was
removed from the list sent a message to us today after having
been contacted by her local email administrator about the problem
with her address. She now has a new address and had not unsubscribed
before her old address changed. Once the new address was in place,
and lacking an alias from her old address in her local system,
all her mail was bounced back to the list, unfortunately to
"[log in to unmask]" (the list address) instead of to "[log in to unmask]"
(the address of the list administration software).
This episode underscores the need for *all* subscribers to keep
one thing in mind in regard to subscriptions to this and many
other listservs, the address used to submit messages to be posted
to a list is usually *not* the same as the address used to control
subscriptions. This is important because it affects where messages
go.
Whenever you want to change your subscription, try to remember
that you *mustn't* send such messages to "[log in to unmask]". Send
them to "[log in to unmask]".
If you are going on vacation and want to suspend getting EAD
postings for a while, send the message
set ead nomail
to "[log in to unmask]". You don't have to unsubscribe, just
set your mail profile to "nomail" to stop the flow. When
you come back, send the message
set ead mail
to "[log in to unmask]". You won't have to resubscribe.
Subscription puts your request into a queue that has to be
manually approved before you're actually in the subscriber list.
This lets us control who subscribes and who doesn't. (We
have been unrestrictive so far...)
We suspect (still unproven...) that some software called
"The Vacation Program" may have played a role in this email/list
delivery problem. Many of the error messages we reviewed
yesterday had been sent by "The Vacation Program". We suspect this
is a utility that stops mail when someone is on vacation. The
problem might be that the program is bouncing the mail back to
the wrong address. The sheer volume of email and error messages
to my personal account, which I used to monitor this and another
list, made it very difficult to debug this problem. (I got
hundreds of email messages yesterday and the previous days!!!!)
The bottom line is, we are sorry you had to endure this problem.
We hope that with *everyone's* help, it can be avoided in the
future.
Take warnings of impending address changes very seriously.
Keep track of all your email subscriptions and unsubscribe
*before* you change your address.
When away, use the "nomail" setting to your list profile.
Know the difference between the list address and the
subscription address for all your subscriptions.
Sincerely,
Randy Barry
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* Randall Keigan Barry LL *
* Senior MARC Standards Specialist LLL *
* U.S. Library of Congress LLL *
* Network Development and MARC Standards Office LLL CCCCC *
* 101 Independence Avenue, S.E. LLL CCC CCC *
* Washington, DC 20540-4102 U.S.A. LLL CCC *
* TEL: +1-202-707-5118 LLLLLLLLLL *
* FAX: +1-202-707-0115 CCC CCC *
* NET: [log in to unmask] CCCCC *
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* NOTE: The ideas and opinions expressed in this communication *
* are personal and do not necessarily reflect the position of *
* the Library of Congress or any other U.S. government agency. *
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