I have been away from this environment for a while and
while reading some posts I see a reference to something
called "IBM-MAIN".  Is this a newsgroup, a mailing list,
or something you subscribe to through IBM?

Thanks,

--
Tom Anderson                    | Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam
Director, PIPES Development     | e tenbris ad lucem!

   bit.listserv.ibm-main

--

Thanks,

--
Tom Anderson                    | Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam
Director, PIPES Development     | e tenbris ad lucem!

send a one-liner with the word "help" (w/o ")
If your mailer inserts a sig, follow it with end.
You should get instructions back on how to subscribe.

After you have successfully subscribed, go back and set all the options
to nomail, etc.

THEN, you can post to the usenet group without being scolded by Darren,
the manager (read: hall monitor) of the list.

CAUTION: There is a lot of traffic. When I was getting emails, they were
numbering in the hundreds per day. Even the digest was voluminous...

To post to *both* the listserv and the usenet group, you have to subscribe as

usenet group.  (The gate between the usenet group and the listserv is
one-way--from the listserv to the usenet group, so such postings will go to the
listserv first and then meander back to the usenet group.)

Bob

When did this change?

I remember posting to the usenet version and getting the automated
{*filter*}-grams telling me "You are not authorized to post to ... "
Finally, Darren emailed me personaly. Now all I receive is the
monthly subscription probe.

From deep in my archives, here's the skinny...

Subject:       ADMINISTRIVIA: PLEASE READ! Re: bit.listserv.ibm-main
Date:          Mon, 24 Apr 2000 11:40:42 -0500



Newsgroups:    bit.listserv.ibm-main

The gateway between the IBM-MAIN Listserv discussion list and the
newsgroup bit.listserv.ibm-main has been set back to one-way.
What this means is, any post distributed by Listserv from the IBM-MAIN
discussion list will be sent to bit.listserv.ibm-main. However, any post
sent to bit.listserv.ibm-main, whether you are subscribed or not, will
*NOT* get sent to the IBM-MAIN discussion list. This also means that
your post will not be seen by the other IBM-MAIN subscribers, nor will
your post make it to the archives.

The problem we have had for awhile is that many folks send their post
to the newsgroup and are not subscribed to the list. The post is still
sent to the newsgroup and is seen by other newsgroup readers, but Listserv
rejects the post because that user is not subscribed to the IBM-MAIN list.
These rejections are going to the gateway administrators and they are
tired of receiving them because there are so many everyday. So they set
the gateway back to one-way.

So, if you want your posts to be seen by the entire IBM-MAIN readership,
you should be subscribed to the Listserv list and send your post to

Now before you start {*filter*}ing at me, understand that I have no control
over this. This was done by the gateway administrators, and I can't say
I dont blame them. I have been trying to get newsgroup readers to
subscribe to the list for years. Some folks just dont care if their post
makes it to the main list. Some don't even know an IBM-MAIN list exists.

Do understand that I can't just modify Listserv code or gateway software
as I please.

Darren Evans-Young,
IBM-MAIN List Owner

----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,

This came out during the time when the list was unavailable to me. (Read:
unemployed)

Thanks for the update...

Later,
BB