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- Subject: A Biologist's Guide to Internet Resources (2 of 6)
- Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.answers,news.answers
- From: Una Smith <una@minerva.cis.yale.edu>
- Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1993 01:44:17 GMT
-
- Archive-name: biology/guide/part2
- Last-modified: 10 November 1993
-
-
- -*- 2. Networking
-
- The Internet has become an excellent place in which to look for academic
- and professional job announcements, conference announcements and calls
- for papers, and important notices about recent events in many fields of
- biology. Generally, notices of all forms appear on the Internet well in
- advance of traditional journals and newsletters. Scientific interest
- groups, both formal and informal ones, maintain electronic discussion
- groups, directories, digests and newsletters. These resources are
- distributed in three principal ways: via Usenet newsgroups, (automated)
- listserver mailing lists, and mailing lists administered by real people.
- Increasingly, the two forms of mailing list have "gateways" connecting
- them with Usenet newsgroups.
-
-
- -*- 2.1. Netiquette
-
- The professionally-oriented newsgroups and mailing lists follow certain
- conventions of etiquette. These are none other than those used by most
- people at public events such as academic conferences. In fact, most of
- the science-related newsgroups (and mailing lists) are very much like
- mid-sized meetings of any professional society, except that they never
- end. The participants come and go as they please, but the discussion
- and exchange of ideas and information continues.
-
- Submitted articles tend to be of the following types:
-
- - Discussions on topics of general interest. Discussions on specific
- topics, techniques, or organisms are also frequent.
-
- - Announcements of upcoming conferences or other events, calls for papers
- or grant proposal deadlines. In Usenet, announcements can be set to
- expire (and thus disappear from the list of current articles), and may
- be limited in their distribution so that they are seen only by readers
- in the appropriate organization or geographical area (Beware, this
- feature is often leaky; see section 2.2, Usenet).
-
- - Academic and professional job announcements, including many graduate
- fellowships. These are generally posted in newsgroups/mailing lists
- reserved for such notices, often in advance of publication elsewhere.
-
- - Reports or comments on new books, papers, methods or software. Full
- citation of sources is always appropriate and appreciated. Requests
- for references or comments are also welcome and, when posed as specific
- questions of general interest, often lead to interesting discussions.
-
- Unacceptable articles include:
-
- - Commercial advertizements, political lobbying messages, and anything
- not pertaining directly to the topic or purview of the newsgroup or
- mailing list. Discussions about some commercial products, especially
- books and software, are generally allowed as long as they do not
- constitute advertisements.
-
- - Requests by students for explicit answers to homework and exam or essay
- questions are generally not welcome. Requests for help understanding
- problems in biology are welcome, but the requester should demonstrate
- at least a basic understanding of the question.
-
- Some helpful suggestions:
-
- - Read before you post (look before you leap)
-
- Before posting an article for the first time, read the discussions for
- a week or so. Look for an "FAQ" document that covers frequently asked
- questions (thus the name) before you make the mistake of asking one
- yourself. FAQs are an excellent way to learn a great deal about the
- culture and resources of the Internet, plus a great deal more. FAQs
- about resources are updated often (usually monthly), to stay current.
- (They are far more current than traditionally published books listing
- Internet resources!) Each newsgroup or mailing list has its own unique
- character, that is built from the shared experience of loyal and active
- participants exchanging ideas and information over the course of years.
-
- - Always include your full name and e-mail address
-
- Put these at the end of your message, with your usual signature. You
- might want to use a .signature file (standard on most Unix systems, also
- implemented for Usenet and e-mail readers under VM/CMS) to make this
- automatic. This is necessary because strange things often happen to
- headers in e-mail or Usenet articles sent from one network to another.
- You may want to include your affiliation and/or mailing address, so that
- others can send you re-prints, and to help in networking outside of the
- Internet. Traditionally, people do not indicate their status; whether
- student or professor, Ph.D. or not, etc. It is generally believed that
- the text-only nature of communication via the Internet allows people to
- form opinions of one another that are based more on intellectual merit
- than on other, perhaps more superficial qualities. Either way, you have
- an unusual degree of control over what others can know about you, and it
- is to your advantage to use a .signature file that reflects you well.
-
- - Send private replies whenever appropriate
-
- Answers to very esoteric questions are often best sent directly to the
- person who asked for help, rather than to the newsgroup; the choice of
- whether to post a (public) reply or send (private) e-mail is a personal
- decision. If you send a reply by e-mail, and would prefer that it be
- kept private, you should say so in your note, because otherwise the other
- person may share your comments with others. If the original poster
- promises to post a summary at the outset, then all replies should be
- sent by e-mail, unless they constitute an important re-direction of the
- original question.
-
- - Summarize the replies to your article
-
- Whenever a question or request for information results in many replies,
- it is expected that the person who posted the original article will
- compile and post a summary of the responses.
-
- - Use care when writing summaries
-
- - The "best" answers should come first.
- - All answers should be separated clearly, and nicely formatted.
- - Redundant, irrelevant or verbose comments, and errors of fact or
- spelling should be edited out. It is appropriate to use square
- brackets and dots to indicate editing [...].
- - Exercise discretion and tact, to ensure a fair and accurate summary.
- - Unless they asked that their names be withheld, the contributors of
- each answer should be named and thanked, individually or as a group.
-
- - Avoid starting nasty arguments or "flame wars"
-
- - Be generous when interpreting the arguments of others.
- - Avoid jargon; write as though addressing an educated lay audience.
- - Avoid personal attacks on the honor or character of others.
- - Remember, the exercise will be good for you.
-
- If something you read angers you, save it for a few hours while you do
- something else (don't reply on an empty stomach). Go back to it when
- you are calm and relaxed (and you have thought of a good rebuttal!).
- If you simply must say something highly critical that is not confined
- to the subject under discussion (i.e., strays from intellectual argument
- into the realm of personal insult), consider sending it privately via
- e-mail, rather than posting or mailing to the group. And if you read
- something insulting to you, do not respond immediately; give yourself
- time to cool off and think of a tactful (but also devastating) response.
- E-mail can be a powerful tool, but only if you use it well.
-
- - Be careful about quotations, citations and copyrights
-
- The Internet has grown to the point where it has become reasonable to
- cite documents that exist officially only in an electronic version on
- the Internet. And the issue of authenticity and version control has
- become extremely important. Thus, it has become appropriate to express
- copyrights, and to specify within documents how they may or may not be
- used, both within the Internet and in print. Please respect these
- restrictions, which are often very generous, and send the author e-mail
- if you have any doubts about the intended use of any Internet document.
-
- As a rule of thumb, you may freely cite or quote anything posted to a
- newsgroup or mailing list in that forum *only*. For citations or quotes
- elsewhere, it is hoped, even expected, that you will first request express
- permission from the author, which is easy, given the author's e-mail
- address. Although there has been a trend to cite specific articles posted
- in Usenet, it is generally satisfactory to use the "personal communication"
- formula, but for this reason you should request a specific, personal
- statement from the author that is directly relevant to and given in the
- context of the issue that you wish to address.
-
-
- -*- 2.2. Usenet
-
- Usenet is a convention, in every sense of the word.
-
- Usenet is a system of organized "newsgroups" sharing many features with
- traditional newsletters, mailing lists and focused scientific societies.
- Usenet is Internet-based (although before the Internet existed it was
- distributed via UUCP), and strongly developed so that end users need
- know only how to interact with the particular Usenet "reader" program
- on their computers. Features of Usenet that make it far superior to the
- two types of mailing lists generally include the sorting or "threading"
- of all articles on a related topic, control of the distribution of
- posted articles to hierarchical levels (e.g., the author's university,
- state, country, or continent--but this feature may "leak"), the ability
- to cancel an article even after it has been distributed, and automatic
- expiration of dated articles. To test any of these features, especially
- the distribution control, try posting an article to misc.test; your
- article will receive "echoes" from other sites that receive it.
-
- Usenet is "free", but not cheap; because it requires a lot of computer
- disk space, and a certain amount of installation and regular maintenance
- work by a system administrator, not all computer systems carry Usenet.
- If Usenet is carried locally, it may still be necessary to prod the local
- Usenet administrator to add the bionet and bit.listserv newsgroups to the
- local "feed". Usenet was created by two Duke University graduate students
- in 1979: see Spafford (1993) for the definitive history of Usenet and a
- list of Usenet software for virtually every type of computer.
-
- To paraphrase Spafford and Salzenberg (1992): Usenet is *not* a network.
- Usenet is an anarchy, with no laws and no one in charge. No one has any
- real control outside of their own site. Computer system administrators
- who distribute Usenet "feeds" to other sites gain some authority by virtue
- of being "upstream"; that is, they have some say over what newsgroups
- their "downstream" neighbors can receive. Usenet feeds are stored at each
- site in "spools"; it is common for universities to have Usenet spools on
- one or two computers, and to allow everyone at the university to read
- Usenet news via "client" programs that connect to the remote "news server".
-
- The particular configuration of the Usenet feed to your university or
- organization determines whether the distribution control feature of most
- Usenet posting programs will work properly for you. For example, the
- mailing lists for the bionet.* newsgroups are gated on the west coast of
- North America, and you might think that it is safe to post local items
- in a bionet.* newsgroup if you live elsewhere. But many sites get their
- feed of bionet.* groups directly from the machine that runs the mailing
- lists, which is definitely outside your geographic area. So your article
- will be distributed at your site, but will not be propagated from your
- site to any other site in your area if it must pass out of your region
- and then return through a separate feed to a university in the next city.
- Furthermore, it is a more efficient use of network resources to get as
- much Usenet traffic as possible from the nearest site available. It is
- important, therefore, to do a little research on Usenet feeds in your area
- before asking your Usenet administrator to add one of the newsgroup
- hierarchies listed in section 2.2.2, Special Usenet Hierarchies and Gated
- Mailing Lists.
-
- Usenet etiquette:
-
- - New users should read the Usenet FAQs posted in news.announce.newusers.
-
- - Use the misc.test newsgroup for posting test articles. Be sure to
- test the distribution feature here. Do not post test articles to
- other newsgroups.
-
- - Use the expiration feature for job and conference announcments.
-
- - When posting to more than one newsgroup, use the cross-posting feature
- so only one copy of your article goes out, but is seen by many people.
-
- - Post (and cross-post) sparingly to groups that have associated mailing
- lists, to give a break to people who must read the groups via e-mail.
-
- The cross-posting of articles to more than one gated newsgroup is strongly
- discouraged, since the e-mail subscribers will get multiple copies of any
- cross-posted articles. Usenet readers should be aware of proper etiquette
- for mailing lists when posting to gated newsgroups.
-
-
- -*- 2.2.1. Newsgroups of Special Interest
-
- An "F" after the newsgroup name indicates an FAQ is available. "M" means
- that the newsgroup is moderated. "G" means that the newsgroup has a
- gateway to a parallel mailing list: see section 2.2.2, Special Usenet
- Hierarchies and Gated Mailing Lists, for details.
-
- alt.agriculture.* [2 groups]
- alt.bbs.internet F Announcements of new Internet services
- alt.cyb-sys Cybernetics and Systems
- alt.internet.access.wanted F Help getting full Internet access
- alt.internet.services F Announcements of new Internet resources
- alt.native Indigenous peoples
- alt.sci.* [6 groups]
- | alt.earth_summit Discussion of the recent Earth Summit
- alt.sustainable.agriculture G Sustainable agriculture
-
- bionet.agroforestry G Agroforestry research
- bionet.announce FGM Announcements
- bionet.biology.computational GM Comp. and math. applications in biology
- bionet.biology.n2-fixation G Biological nitrogen fixation
- bionet.biology.tropical G Tropical biology and ecology
- bionet.chlamydomonas G Chlamydomonas discussion
- bionet.cellbio G Cell biology discussion
- bionet.drosophila G Drosophila discussion
- bionet.general FG General discussion
- bionet.genome.* G [3 groups: Arabidopsis and chromosomes]
- bionet.immunology G Research in immunology
- bionet.info-theory FG Information theory applied to biology
- bionet.jobs G Job opportunities in biology
- bionet.journals.contents GM Biological journal TOCs
- bionet.journals.note G Publication issues in biology
- bionet.metabolic-reg G Metabolic regulation and thermodynamics
- bionet.molbio.ageing G Cellular and organismal ageing
- bionet.molbio.bio-matrix G Computer searches of biological databases
- bionet.molbio.embldatabank G Info about the EMBL Nucleic acid database
- bionet.molbio.evolution G Evolution, especially molecular
- bionet.molbio.gdb G The GDB database
- bionet.molbio.genbank G The GenBank nucleic acid database
- bionet.molbio.gene-linkage G Genetic linkage analysis.
- bionet.molbio.genome-program G Human Genome Program issues
- bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts G Tips on lab techniques and materials
- bionet.molbio.hiv G The molecular biology of HIV
- bionet.molbio.proteins G Proteins and protein database searches
- bionet.molbio.rapd G Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA
- bionet.molbio.yeast G Yeast researchers' discussion
- bionet.mycology G Mycological research discussion
- bionet.neuroscience G Research issues in the neurosciences
- bionet.photosynthesis G Photosynthesis research
- bionet.plants G Plant biology, inc. genetics and ecology
- bionet.population-bio G Population biology, especially theory
- bionet.sci-resources GM Information about funding agencies, etc.
- bionet.software G Software for biology, esp. free/shareware
- bionet.software.* G [3 groups: acedb, gcg, and sources]
- bionet.users.addresses G Help locating biologists who use e-mail
- bionet.virology G Research in virology
- bionet.women-in-bio G Discussion by and about women in biology
- bionet.xtallography G Protein crystallography
-
- bit.listserv.biosph-l G Biosphere, ecology, Discussion List
- bit.listserv.devel-l G Tech. Transfer in Internat. Development
- bit.listserv.ethology G Ethology List
- | bit.listserv.geograph G Geography List
- bit.listserv.medforum MG Medical Students Discussion
- bit.listserv.uigis-l G User Interface for GIS
- bit.listserv.vpiej-l G Electronic Publishing Discussion List
- bit.org.peace-corps G International Volunteers Discussion Group
-
- comp.infosystems.gis FG Geograpical Information Systems
- comp.infosystems.gopher F The Internet gopher access tool
- comp.infosystems.wais F The Internet WAIS access tool
- comp.infosystems.www The Internet WWW access tool
- comp.soft-sys.sas G SAS Discussion
- comp.soft-sys.spss G SPSS Statistical Discussion
- comp.text.tex F TeX, LaTeX and related text format systems
- comp.theory.cell-automata G Cellular automata research
- comp.theory.dynamic-sys G Ergodic theory and dynamic systems
- comp.theory.self-org-sys G Topics related to self-organization
-
- embnet.news.admin G EMBnet news helpline for administrators
- embnet.general G General discussion
- embnet.net-dev Network development discussion
- embnet.rpc Technical discussion of data transfers
-
- info.grass.programmer GM GRASS GIS programmer issues
- info.grass.user GM GRASS GIS user issues
- info.ietf GM Internet Engineering Task Force
- info.nsf.grants GM NSF grants announcements
- info.wisenet G Women in Science and Engineering Network
-
- news.announce.newusers FM FAQs for new users of Usenet
- news.answers FM All FAQ documents
- news.lists FM Statistics and data about Usenet
-
- sci.answers GFM FAQs pertaining to science
- sci.anthropology Anthropology discussion
- sci.archaeology Archaeology discussion
- sci.bio F General biology discussion
- sci.bio.ecology G Ecological research (sponsored by ESA)
- sci.bio.technology G Any topic relating to biotechnology
- sci.environment Discussion of environmental issues
- sci.geo.* [3 newsgroups]
- sci.image.processing F Scientific image processing
- sci.nonlinear Nonlinear dynamical systems
- sci.research.careers Discussion of research careers in science
- sci.stat.consult G Statistical consulting
- sci.stat.edu G Journal of Statistics Education List
- sci.stat.math Mathematical statistics
- | sci.techniques.xtallography Crystallography techniques
- sci.* [60 other newsgroups]
-
-
- -*- 2.2.2. Special Usenet Hierarchies and Gated Mailing Lists
-
- There has been a growing trend in the past few years to set up transparent
- "gateways" between mailing lists and newsgroups, and to create Usenet
- newsgroup hierarchies that are outside the "main stream". Both being new,
- these two trends often go together.
-
- None of the Usenet newsgroup hierarchies mentioned below are main-stream
- ones; that is, they do not conform to all Usenet conventions, and
- consequently are carried by no more than 30-50% of Usenet sites. This is
- not necessarily a bad thing, since few or no readers at most sites are
- biologists, and e-mail subscriptions are available for many groups. If
- your site carries Usenet, but not these hierarcies, a simple request to
- your Usenet administrator might be all that's needed to get them too.
- But see the first part of section 2.2, Usenet, for details about what to
- ask for.
-
- bionet.*
-
- Each of these newsgroups has two gateways to mailing lists, to save on
- trans-Atlantic transmission costs. For an e-mail subscription to any
- || bionet.* newsgroup, if you live in the Americas or the Pacific Rim,
- || send e-mail to biosci-server@net.bio.net with the text `help' (leave the
- || Subject line blank; this is an automated server). If you live elsewhere,
- || send e-mail to biosci@daresbury.ac.uk (a person will respond). Brief
- descriptions of some of these groups are given in the BIOSCI FAQ, posted
- in bionet.announce and available on net.bio.net in the directory
- /pub/BIOSCI/ or by e-mail from the BIOSCI staff at biosci@net.bio.net.
-
- bit.listserv.*
-
- As their names imply, the bit.listserv newsgroups started out as (and
- remain) automated mailing lists. Most of these mailing lists became
- so successful that gateways to Usenet were added by popular demand.
- The Appendix includes 100 or so other mailing lists, most run via the
- LISTSERV program, of interest to biologists; those mailing lists with
- Usenet gateways are listed in section 2.3.3, Gateways to Usenet.
- Charters for each of these groups can be obtained from the listserver
- that administers each one. See sections 2.3, Mailing Lists Using
- LISTSERV, and 2.3.1, Commands, for details about e-mail subscriptions and
- commands for interacting with listserver programs.
-
- comp.theory.*
-
- Send e-mail to Erik Fair, fair@apple.com, or see the list of mailing
- lists posted in news.answers for details about e-mail subscriptions.
-
- embnet.*
-
- The European Molecular Biology Network (EMBnet) runs a group of Usenet
- newsgroups that are distributed in Europe. E-mail subscriptions are
- available from nethelp@embl-heidelberg.de, and these newsgroups can be
- | read and searched via gopher and WAIS on nic.switch.ch. Send general
- e-mail queries to embnet@comp.bioz.unibas.ch.
-
- info.*
-
- These groups are mailing lists with gateways to Usenet at the University
- of Illinois. See section 2.4, Other Mailing Lists, for e-mail subscription
- information, or ask your local Usenet administrator to get these groups.
-
-
- -*- 2.2.3. Usenet FAQs about Usenet
-
- You are strongly encouraged to read the following introductory and
- etiquette FAQs before posting any messages to any newsgroup. They are
- what might be considered the "mandatory course" for new users, and
- are posted frequently in the Usenet newsgroup news.newusers.announce.
-
- See section 4, Useful and Important FAQs, for a list of additional FAQs
- of general use or interest to biologists, section 4.1, What's an FAQ and
- where can I get one?, and sections 3.6.2 and 3.6.3 for instructions on
- how to get copies by anonymous FTP or e-mail if you don't have access
- to a Usenet reader.
-
- Title Archive filename
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Introductory information (recommended reading)
-
- What is Usenet? what-is-usenet/part1
- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions usenet-faq/part1
- about Usenet
- Introduction to news.announce news-announce-intro/part1
-
- Etiquette (strongly recommended reading)
-
- A Primer on How to Work With the usenet-primer/part1
- Usenet Community
- Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions emily-postnews/part1
- on Netiquette
- Hints on writing style for Usenet usenet-writing-style/part1
- Rules for posting to Usenet posting-rules/part1
-
- Technical issues
-
- How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup creating-newsgroups/part1
- USENET Software: History and Sources usenet-software/part1
- How to become a USENET site site-setup
- NetNews/Listserv Gateway Policy bit/policy
- UNIX BBS Software FAQ with Answers unix-faq/bbs-software
- Introduction to the news.answers news-answers/introduction
- newsgroup
- Instructions for posting to news.answers news-answers/guidelines
-
- Resource listings
-
- Mailing Lists Available in Usenet mail/news-gateways/part1
- Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists mail/mailing-lists/part[1-6]
- List of Periodic Information Postings periodic-postings/part[1-6]
- List of Active Newsgroups active-newsgroups/part[1-2]
- Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies alt-hierarchies/part[1-2]
-
-
- -*- 2.2.4. Usenet by E-mail
-
- | Many people who do not have direct access to Usenet do have Internet
- | access, and can read Usenet newsgroups via gopher (see section 3.6.4
- | below for an explanation of gopher). Gopher is fine for reading Usenet
- | news, but doesn't allow posting to them. Fortunately, various sites on
- | the Internet will accept e-mail addressed to specific newsgroups, and
- | will post it automatically. Rob Harper <harper@convex.csc.fi> in Finland
- | offers such a service: to post to bionet.general, for example, send
- | your article via e-mail to bionet.general@nic.funet.fi. Naturally, using
- | a good e-mail program you can insert the usual article headers (Reply-To,
- | Expires, References, etc.), but you can also insert bad headers and make
- | a mess of your post, so be cautious: look carefully at the headers of
- | other articles, and experiment by posting to misc.test.
-
-
- -*- 2.3. Mailing Lists Using LISTSERV
-
- It is very important that you keep a list of all mailing lists to which
- you are subscribed, along with the address of the list administrator
- and the address you used when you subscribed, if you have more than one.
- This is because you will need to unsubscribe yourself if you go away on
- vacation or your address changes. Otherwise any mail sent to you from
- the list may bounce or cause other, sometimes severe problems. And it's
- easier to check the address etc. when you want to tell friends how they
- can subscribe too.
-
- The Appendix at the end of this guide includes most listserver mailing
- lists of particular interest or use to biologists. Internet addresses
- are given whenever possible, and all addresses are in standard Internet
- format, with the exception that portions of the Internet node names that
- reflect original Bitnet node names are given in uppercase, for the
- convenience of readers on Bitnet nodes.
-
- Listservers were developed first many years ago on Bitnet, when Eric
- Thomas wrote a computer program named "LISTSERV" that could act like
- a regular computer user: receiving and sending out e-mail, and keeping
- files. LISTSERV is now used on hundreds (170 at last count) of computers
- around the world, and a number of copy-cat programs with some similar
- features are used at many other sites. Whichever program is used, these
- listservers are given the task of maintaining multiple electronic mailing
- lists, handling all membership requests (subscriptions and cancellation
- of subscriptions, and so on). Many list owners collect monthly logs of
- all messages sent to the list, and some also provide files of other
- information. Eric Thomas's LISTSERV program does this automatically, and
- listservers running this program can send "back issue" logs and other
- files on request.
-
- The author of one of the other listserver programs has unfortunately
- chosen to enhance his own reputation by using the same name as Eric
- Thomas's program. This causes great confusion, as the other program
- does not perform nearly as many functions as LISTSERV does. Whenever
- | known, those mailing lists *not* using Eric Thomas's LISTSERV code are
- | listed in the Appendix, Assorted Mailing Lists Using LISTSERV, with a
- | "K". E-mail subscription requests for these lists must have blank
- | Subject lines and no appended signature text.
-
- Mailing lists run by non-LISTSERV listservers are listed in section 2.4,
- Other Mailing Lists, together with mailing lists run by hand. Other
- listservers include "mailbase" and "MAILSERV", both written for Bitnet
- nodes in Europe. For documents about using mailbase, send e-mail to
- mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with the text
-
- send mailbase user-guide for the lengthly User's Guide
- send mailbase user-card for a short version of the Guide
-
- You can get an extensive topical directory of academic mailing lists,
- compiled by Diane Kovacs, dkovacs@KENTVM.kent.edu: send e-mail to
- listserv@KENTVM.kent.edu with the text
-
- get acadlist readme
-
- Charles Bailey posts a directory, Library-Oriented Lists and Electronic
- Serials, to the newsgroup bit.listserv.pacs-l on a regular basis.
-
- Mailing list etiquette:
-
- - Whenever possible, Bitnet users should use the Bitnet address of a list
- and its listserver; Internet users should use the Internet address.
-
- - Keep a record of your subscriptions, and a copy of any instructions
- that you receive with your subscription.
-
- - Remember to unsubscribe or otherwise turn off your subscriptions
- before your e-mail address changes or you go away on vacation.
-
- - Avoid sending articles to more than one mailing list.
-
- - Be concise or, if your article is more than a few hundred lines long,
- warn your readers in the Subject line.
-
- A note for users on JANET nodes (in the United Kingdom): you may be
- able to get subscriptions to Bitnet listserver mailing lists via
- listserv@earn-relay.ac.uk. Send e-mail to that address with the text
-
- info ?
-
- for more information. This saves electronic transmission costs by having
- a single subscription propagated across the Atlantic Ocean, and then
- re-distributing it to multiple subscribers in the U.K. and elsewhere in
- Europe.
-
-
- -*- 2.3.1. Commands
-
- Being computer programs, with nothing else to do, listservers just sit
- and wait for e-mail to arrive, read it, and perform the appropriate task,
- usually immediately. They respond only to a small set of commands. A
- summary (Thomas 1993) of these commands can be retrieved by sending the
- message "send listserv refcard" to any listserver. The main listserver
- is listserv@BITNIC.educom.edu, but there are many listservers around the
- world. Specificially, there is one on each computer for which a mailing
- list is mentioned in the Appendix. Most listservers maintain more than
- one mailing list.
-
- To subscribe to any of these mailing lists, send e-mail to the listserver
- at the same address. For example, subscriptions to the Smithsonian
- Institution's biological conservation list, CONSLINK, may be obtained by
- sending the message
-
- subscribe conslink <Your Name>
-
- to listserv@SIVM.si.edu. To turn off mail from a list temporarily (e.g.,
- while you are away on vacation), send the message
-
- set <listname> nomail
-
- and to unsubscribe permanently (e.g., because your e-mail address is about
- to change), send the message
-
- unsubscribe <listname>
-
- Send subscription and other administrative requests to the listserver,
- not the list; e-mail messages sent directly to the mailing list will
- (generally) be sent to all the list subscribers. Only the listserver
- can process subscription requests, and the listserver only knows about
- requests that it receives directly.
-
- LISTSERV programs of version 1.7f and higher have a very useful feature
- that lets you receive a daily digest (actually a concatenation, with a
- table of contents) instead of many individual articles. Send e-mail to
- the apropriate listserver with the message:
-
- set <listname> digest
-
-
- -*- 2.3.2. Archives
-
- In addition to handling the membership requests for particular mailing
- lists, most listservers also archive all messages sent to each list in
- monthly log files. These files, along with other items contributed by
- list subscribers, are archived by the listserver and can be retrieved
- by e-mail. Listserv@SIVM.si.edu keeps an archive of various lists of
- conservation organizations and field stations, several newsletters, and
- a large collection of bibliographic references relating to biological
- conservation. Listserv@UMDD.umd.edu keeps an archive of job openings and
- conference announcements submitted to the Ecological Society of America.
-
- Commands for retrieving files from listserver archives are described
- in the listserver command reference guide (Thomas 1993), and include:
-
- help to get generally useful information
- review <listname> to get the list of subscribers
- index <listname> to get the list of archived files
- get listserv refcard to get a short summary of commands
- get listfaq memo to get an FAQ about listservers
-
- Sending the message "info" to a listserver will result in a list of
- information guides including:
-
- REFcard (LISTSERV REFCARD) Command reference card
- FAQ (LISTFAQ MEMO ) Frequently Asked Questions
- PResent (LISTPRES MEMO ) Presentation of LISTSERV for new users
- GENintro (LISTSERV MEMO ) General information about Revised LISTSERV
- KEYwords (LISTKEYW MEMO ) Description of list header keywords
- AFD (LISTAFD MEMO ) Description of Automatic File Distribution
- FILEs (LISTFILE MEMO ) Description of the file-server functions
- LPunch (LISTLPUN MEMO ) Description of the LISTSERV-Punch file fmt.
- JOB (LISTJOB MEMO ) Description of the Command Jobs feature
- DISTribute (LISTDIST MEMO ) Description of Relayed File Distribution
- COORDinat (LISTCOOR MEMO ) Information about Listserv Coordination
- FILEOwner (LISTFOWN MEMO ) Information guide for file owners
- DATABASE (LISTDB MEMO ) Description of the database functions
- UDD (LISTUDD MEMO ) User Directory Database User's Guide
- UDDADMIN (LISTUDDA MEMO ) UDD Administrator's Guide
-
- To get any one of these, send the message "info <keyword>" where <keyword>
- is, for instance, "REFcard" or "FAQ". Only the portion in capitals is
- required.
-
-
- -*- 2.3.3. Gateways to Usenet
-
- Some of the listserver mailing lists in the Appendix below are also
- Usenet newsgroups:
-
- biosph-l@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu is bit.listserv.biosph-l
- devel-l@AUVM.american.edu is bit.listserv.devel-l
- ethology@FINHUTC.hut.fi is bit.listserv.ethology
- | geograph@SEARN.sunet.su is bit.listserv.geograph
- medforum@ARIZVM1.ccit.arizona.edu is bit.listserv.medforum (custom gate)
- uigis-l@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu is bit.listserv.uigis-l
- vpiej-l@VTVM1.cc.vt.edu is bit.listserv.vpiej-l
-
- gis-l@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu is comp.infosystems.gis
- sas-l@UGA.cc.uga.edu is comp.soft-sys.sas
- spssx-l@UGA.cc.uga.edu is comp.soft-sys.spss
- | dynsys@gibbs.oit.unc.edu is comp.theory.dynamic-sys
-
- wisenet@UICVM.uic.edu is info.wisenet
-
- scifaq-l@YALEVM.cis.yale.edu is sci.answers (gate is group-->list only)
- ecolog-l@UMDD.umd.edu is sci.bio.ecology
- biotech@UMDD.umd.edu is sci.bio.technology
- stat-l@vm1.mcgill.ca is sci.stat.consult
- edstat-l@jse.stat.ncsu.edu is sci.stat.edu
-
- American University has established itself as the clearing house and
- semi-official keeper of automated gateways between listserver mailing
- lists and Usenet newsgroups. Questions about the procedure for
- establishing a gateway for any mailing list or newsgroup may be posted to
- the Usenet newsgroup bit.admin or sent to news-admin@AUVM.american.edu.
- A FAQ on this topic appears regularly in the bit.admin newsgroup.
-
-
- -*- 2.4. Other Mailing Lists
-
- Remember to save any instructions you receive about unsubscribing from
- a mailing list. Mailing lists that do not use listserv-style commands
- for subscribing and unsubscribing include:
-
- Topic or name Mailing list address
- Subscription instructions
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Arabidopsis thal. database announcements aatdb-info@weeds.mgh.harvard.edu
- Contact Mike Cherry, curator@weeds.mgh.harvard.edu.
-
- Artificial life digest alife@cognet.ucla.edu
- Send all subscription requests to alife-request@cognet.ucla.edu.
-
- Biological Anthropology, Primatology humbio@acc.fau.edu
- Send "subscribe humbio <Your Name>" to mailserv@acc.fau.edu.
-
- Biological timing and circadian rhythms
- cbt-general@virginia.edu cbt-general-request@@virginia.edu
-
- Biologia y Evolucion (in Spanish) biologia@athena.mit.edu
- biologia-request@athena.mit.edu
-
- | Biology information systems biogopher@bch.umontreal.ca
- | Contact Tim Littlejohn, tim@bch.umontreal.ca
-
- Bulletin for bryologists bryonet@uni-duisburg.de
- Send e-mail to the owner, Jan-Peter Frahm, hh216fr@uni-duisburg.de.
-
- Cytometry discussion
- cytometry@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu cyto-request@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu
-
- Dendrome forest tree genome mapping digest
- Send all subscription requests and submissions to the editor,
- dendrome@s27w007.pswfs.gov.
-
- Dinosaurs and other archosaurs dinosaur@donald.wichitaks.ncr.com
- Send e-mail to dinosaur-request@donald.wichitaks.ncr.com.
-
- Discover Insight Biosym Users' Group dibug@comp.bioz.unibas.ch
- Send e-mail to dibug-request@comp.bioz.unibas.ch.
-
- Ecologia (in Spanish) ecologia@athena.mit.edu
- Send e-mail to ecologia-request@athena.mit.edu
-
- Entomology discussion ent-list@um.cc.umich.edu
- Send e-mail to the owner, Mark O'Brien, hcfb@um.cc.umich.edu.
-
- Environmentalists digest env-link@andrew.cmu.edu
- Send e-mail to the owner, Josh Knaur, env-link+forms@andrew.cmu.edu.
-
- | Experimental Petrology exp-pet@s100.es.llnl.gov
- | Send e-mail with the text "subscribe exp-pet" on the first line
- | of the body (not the Subject line) to majordomo@s100.es.llnl.gov.
- | For more information, contact Henry Shaw <shaw4@llnl.gov> or
- | James Brenan <james_brenan@esciqm.es.llnl.gov>.
-
- Fish and Wildlife Biology wildnet@access.usask.ca
- Send e-mail to wildnet-request@access.usask.ca for subscription
- requests, etc. Wildnet is also distributed via Usenet in the
- sci.bio.ecology newsgroup (a.k.a. the ECOLOG-L mailing list).
-
- Forestry discussion forest@lists.funet.fi
- Send e-mail to forest-request@lists.funet.fi
-
- Genstat statistics package discussion genstat@ib.rl.ac.uk
- Send "subscribe genstat <Your Name>" to listral@ib.rl.ac.uk.
-
- GIS digest
- Send all subscription requests and submissions to the editor,
- rrl@leicester.ac.uk.
-
- GIS Users in the United Kingdom geocal@leicester.ac.uk
- Send "subscribe geocal <Your Name>" to vmsserv@leicester.ac.uk.
-
- | "Green" travel and tourism discussion [unknown]
- | Send e-mail to Marcus Endicott <mendicott@igc.apc.org>, asking for
- | a subscription to the green.travel mailing list.
-
- Killifish, Cyprinodontidae killie@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
- Send e-mail to killie-request@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
-
- Neotropical birds discussion avifauna@rcp.pe
- Contact phillips@cipa.ec (Roberto Phillips)
-
- Neural networks digest neuron-request@cattel.psych.upenn.edu
- Send requests and all submissions to the above address. Back issues of
- the digest are available via anonymous FTP on cattell.psych.upenn.edu.
-
- Orchids orchids@scuacc.SCU.edu
- Send "subscribe orchids <Your Name>" to mailserv@scuacc.SCU.edu.
-
- | Peptide Libraries pep-libs@net.bio.net
- | Send "help" to biosci-server@net.bio.net for subscription information.
-
- | Plant hormones discussion list plant-hormones@mailbase.ac.uk
- | Send "join plant-hormones <Your Name>" to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk.
-
-
- Plant Taxonomy plant-taxonomy@mailbase.ac.uk
- Send "join plant-taxonomy <Your Name>" to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk.
-
- Primate discussion primate-talk@primate.wisc.edu
- Send e-mail to the owner, primate-talk-request@primate.wisc.edu.
-
- Prion Research Digest [unknown]
- Send e-mail to prion-request@stolaf.edu.
-
- | RNA rna@net.bio.net
- | Send "help" to biosci-server@net.bio.net for subscription information.
-
- The S statistics package s-news@utstat.toronto.edu
- Send e-mail to s-news-request@utstat.toronto.edu.
-
- SANET-MG Sustainable Agriculture Network sanet-mg@twosocks.ces.ncsu.edu
- Send e-mail with the text "subscribe sanet-mg" or "send guide" or
- "send catalog" to almanac@twosocks.ces.ncsu.edu.
-
- Simulated Annealing Mailing List (ANNEAL) [unknown]
- Send e-mail with the text "subscribe anneal" to majordomo@sti.com.
-
- Society for Mathematical Biology Digest smbnet@fconvx.ncifcrf.gov
- Send e-mail with the text "subscribe smbnet <Your Name>" and/or
- "help" to listserv@fconvx.ncifcrf.gov. Back issues of the digest
- are available via anonymous FTP on fconvx.ncifcrf.gov in smb/digest/.
- The editor is apparently Ray Mejia.
-
- | Yeast Artificial Chromosomes yac@net.bio.net
- | Send "help" to biosci-server@net.bio.net for subscription information.
-
- Young Scientists' Network ysn@zoyd.ee.washington.edu
- Send e-mail to ysn-request@zoyd.ee.washington.edu with the Subject
- (not text) "subscribe" or "send info".
-
- Volcano list
- Send all subscription requests and submissions to the editor,
- Jon Fink, aijhf@ASUACAD (via Bitnet) or aijhf@asuvm.inre.asu.edu.
-
- Note, any mailing lists you may discover at net.bio.net or daresbury.ac.uk
- that are not explicitly mentioned in this FAQ are not mentioned *because*
- they are actually gated lists for the bionet.* newsgroups. See section
- 2.2.2, Special Usenet Hierarchies and Gated Mailing Lists, for instructions
- about subscribing to any bionet.* newsgroup via e-mail.
-
- | There is a 6-part FAQ in news.answers (da Silva 1993) that includes
- brief descriptions of the charter of each mailing list. This FAQ is
- stored in FAQ archives in the directory /mailing-lists/.
-
- A very long (1.2 megabytes) list of lists is available via anonymous FTP
- from ftp.nisc.sri.com in netinfo/interest-groups or (in compressed form)
- netinfo/interest-groups.Z. It can also be obtained via e-mail by sending
- the message "send netinfo/interest-groups" to mail-server@nisc.sri.com.
- There is a printed, indexed version, titled "Internet: Mailing Lists",
- that can be purchased from Prentice Hall. However, this list is up-dated
- through submissions, and thus is incomplete and not very correct.
-
-
- -*- 2.5. Newsletters
-
- Many of the mailing lists mentioned in the above section are actually
- digests, where readers' queries and comments are condensed into a
- single large document that is distributed periodically. Yet another
- variation on this theme is electronic newsletters. Those not listed
- elsewhere in this guide include:
-
- * Animal Behavior Society Newsletter. Editor James C. Ha,
- jcha@u.washington.edu.
-
- * Bean Bag: Leguminosae Research Newsletter, edited by Charles R. Gunn
- and Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr., jkirkbride@asrr.arsusda.gov. Available
- via gopher and anonymous FTP from huh.harvard.edu.
-
- * Botanical Electronic News (BEN), edited by Adolf Ceska, Canada.
- Available via gopher and anonymous FTP from huh.harvard.edu, and
- the wildnet mailing list.
-
- * The Chlamydomonas Newsletter. E-mail subscriptions are available from
- Mike Adams, adams@ecsuc.ctstateu.edu. You can also get this newsletter
- via gopher from gopher.duke.edu and via anonymous FTP from
- acpub.duke.edu in pub/chlamy/.
-
- * Climate/Ecosystem Dynamics (CED). E-mail subscriptions are available
- from Daniel Pommert, daniel@lternet.washington.edu, gopher access
- available via lternet.edu.
-
- * Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN) Newsletter, Australia
- Available via gopher and anonymous FTP from huh.harvard.edu, and via
- the ERIN gopher on kaos.erin.gov.au.
-
- * Flora Online. A journal for collections-oriented botanists published
- by the Clinton Herbarium, Buffalo Museum of Science, New York USA.
- Editor Richard H. Zander, visbms@UBVMS.bitnet. Available via gopher
- and anonymous FTP from huh.harvard.edu.
-
- * LTER Data Management Bulletin (DATABITS). Available via gopher on
- lternet.edu.
-
- * STARNET Echinoderm Newsletter. Send e-mail to the editor, Win Hide,
- whide@matrix.bchs.uh.edu.
-
- | * Titnet. Notices of interest to researchers of Paridae and other hole-
- | nesting birds. Send e-mail to J. Hailman, jhailman@macc.wisc.edu
- | WISCMACC on Bitnet), with your name and address (postal and e-mail),
- | what species you study and what types of studies you do.
-
- The paper journal The Scientist is available via anonymous FTP on
- | ds.internic.net, in pub/the-scientist, and gopher on gopher.gdb.org.
-
- Michael Strangelove, 441495@acadvm1.UOTTAWA.ca has compiled a directory
- of electronic serials. To retrieve it, send e-mail with the text
-
- get ejournl1 directry
- get ejournl2 directry
-
- to listserv@acadvm1.UOTTAWA.ca.
-
- --
- Una Smith
-
- Yale University, Department of Biology, Osborn Memorial Laboratories,
- PO Box 6666, New Haven, Connecticut 06511-8155 smith-una@yale.edu
-
-