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MAILING LIST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q. Why do you insist that I send back a confirmation message by e-mail? It seems an unnecessary complication. A. It’s arranged that way to confirm that your e-mail address is valid and also that nobody is playing silly games like subscribing you without your knowledge or permission. Most mailing lists are set up this way as a security measure. Q. I try to join the list, get an online confirmation, but then never hear from anyone again. What’s the problem? A. The list server will send you a message asking you to confirm that you really do want to join the list. This message should arrive within a few minutes, or within a few hours at most even at busy times. If you don’t hear from the list server the most likely reason is that you’ve mistyped your e-mail address. The easiest solution is to try again. But if problems persist, try joining by e-mail instead. If even that doesn’t work, e-mail me direct and I’ll try to sort matters out for you. If your e-mail address is inside a large organisation, it may be that the message requiring confirmation has been blocked by your mail system, perhaps as a security measure. This is useful to know, as the same thing would happen to the newsletters themselves. We can’t help you in this case: to sort matters out, you need to talk to your system administrator. Your system may need to allow one or more of these addresses through: listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org If you can’t have the block on the list server address removed, the only solution is to subscribe from another e-mail address. Q. I reply to the confirmation message, but the list server reports the address doesn’t match the one on its system. How do I get around this? A. If your e-mail address is inside a large organisation, it may be that the e-mail address on the confirmation message you sent back is not exactly the same as the “official” one you gave on the Web page form. It’s common in systems with lots of e-mail addresses for them to be organised in blocks, which may result in extra elements turning up in the address. The list server system will reject confirmation messages if the originating e-mail address is not exactly the same as the original subscription request. The solution here is to join by e-mail instead, when the two addresses should match. Q. I’ve tried to remove myself from the list, but the list server tells me it can’t find a matching address on its system. How do I get off the list? A. The most common reason is that the list server’s subscription list holds one form of your e-mail address, but the message you are sending seems to be from a slightly different one (perhaps because you have subscribed from within a large organisation whose e-mail system is arranged in sections that cause extra elements to appear in your e-mail address). The only solution here is to send a message to me explaining the problem and asking to be taken off by hand. The other main reason for problems like this to arise is that newsletters are being forwarded from another address. If that is so, you must remove yourself using the other system’s address, as that is the one the list server holds in its database. If you cannot do that, e-mail me to explain the problem and I will take you off the list by hand; make sure you give the address from which messages are being forwarded. Q. What’s all this about spam filters? A. Some systems allow you to set filters that either delete unwanted mail or redirect it into a trash folder. If you have your filters set to allow messages only from certain addresses to reach you, you will not see the confirmation message from the list server system and your attempt to join the list will fail. Even if this works, the newsletters themselves may be blocked, as your spam filtering system may see them as coming from a different address. Your system may need to allow one or more of these addresses through: listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org Q. How do I cope if my mail system requires everybody who sends an e-mail message to confirm their identity? A. Some spam filters intercept incoming messages and send back a request that the sender should confirm the message is valid (the formal name for these is challenge-response systems). If your system has one of these (Earthlink is the best known example in the US), please be aware that the list server software cannot respond to such messages, so that you will not see the confirmation request or receive newsletters. You may be able to get around the problem in this way: before you complete the form to join the list you configure your system (whitelist it in the jargon) to automatically let through the following addresses: listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org Since these addresses are used only to send out newsletters, subscription commands and confirmations, there is very risk of spam slipping through. The list server has an extremely effective spam filter of its own — since 2003, no attempt to send spam through the server has succeeded, though about 50 attempts a week are made. Q. What special problems do Hotmail subscribers have? A. Some mail servers on the Hotmail system at times reject messages sent from the system that manages our mailing list. If you ask to join the World Wide Words list using a Hotmail e-mail address and you don’t receive a request to confirm within a few minutes, you should assume that you have been caught by the fault. There is nothing World Wide Words can do to help you receive newsletters in this situation. The only alternative is to join using another e-mail address, if you have one. Q. How do I join the list by e-mail? A. To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to the list server address listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org from the e-mail address which is to receive mailings. The message should read: SUBSCRIBE WORLDWIDEWORDS First_name Last_name replacing First_name and Last_name by your own first and last names, of course. These lines should go in the body of your message (the message text). The subject line will be ignored. Q. How do I leave the list by e-mail? A. To leave the list, send an e-mail message to the list server at the address listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org from the e-mail address at which you are subscribed. The message should read: SIGNOFF WORLDWIDEWORDS These lines must be put in the body of your message (the message text). The subject line will be ignored. Q. I want to change the e-mail address at which I receive the newsletter mailings. How do I do this? A. You can either use our Web page form, or make the change by e-mail. To change address by e-mail, you should send a message to the list server at listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org from the e-mail address at which you are currently subscribed, in this form: CHANGE WORLDWIDEWORDS newaddr replacing newaddr with your new e-mail address. These lines must be put in the body of your message (the message text). The subject line will be ignored. The list server will send a message to your old address confirming that the change has been requested. It will also send one to your new address, asking for confirmation of the change. The change will be made when you reply to this message from your new address. If you are no longer able to send messages from the address at which you are currently subscribed, you will be unable to make the change by e-mail. You can still use the Web page form, though. If problems persist, e-mail me direct with all the details, and I’ll sort matters out for you. |