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Just a short note to inform everyone that the host institution for the PaleoNet listserver has changed from the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley, back to PaleoNet's original home at The Natural History Museum, London. There are many reasons for this change in venue, but the basic impetus is to incorporate new user features into the list and give myself more of a chance to be able to correct operations if they go badly wrong. The support provided since 1996 by the UC Museum of Paleontology has been nothing short of phenomenal, and often provided in difficult and high pressure circumstances. Many thanks are called for all around. PaleoNet would not have existed over the past 5 years without their support. However, times have changed and it now makes sense to move the list back to the NHM. Nothing much will change as a result of the move. Two things that will (actually already have) change(d) are (1) the PaleoNet list address (= address to which paleoNet messages should be sent) and (2) the PaleoNet Server Address (= address to which user commands such as 'subscribe' and 'unsubscribe' should be sent). These new addresses are: New PaleoNet List Address: PaleoNet@nhm.ac.uk New PaleoNet Server Address: PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk The folks out at Berkeley have inserted code into their server that will automatically route postings from the old (Berkeley) address on to the appropriate new (NHM) address. Nevertheless, you should alter your e-mail software to reflect these changes as soon as is convenient. Other than this everything else should work the same as it did...for the moment. Coming soon is a much nicer, graphical, web-based user interface for subscribing, unsubscribing, and changing your user options, along with the 'long-delayed, but never quite forgotten' PaleoNet archives; right back to PaleoNet's beginnings in 1993 and with its own easy-to-use web-based interface. Our goal, as always, is to improve the list by making it better able to serve your paleontological needs. Below I've included a revised version of the PaleoNet User's Guide with all the new information about the NHM-hosted list. Once again, let me thank the computer staff at the UC Museum of Paleontology (old and new) for all the work they have put into PaleoNet over the years. And, of course, thanks go out to all the subscribers who make PaleoNet the enthusiastic and scholarly community it is. Sincerely Norm MacLeod ---------- PaleoNet: A User's Guide Table of Contents Introduction - General information. Addresses - Where to send what and why. Subscription - How to sign-on. Unsubscription - How to sign off. Reply Default - Current PaleoNet reply setting. PaleoNet Archives - How to access past PaleoNet messages. Subscriber Options Digests - How to get PaleoNet to send mailing periodically. Recipients List - How to get a list of PaleoNet subscribers. Information About List - How to get information about the PaleoNet list. Online Help - How to get on-line help. Introduction PaleoNet represents an experiment in establishing a higher level of personal interaction among paleontologists of diverse specialties and experience. This type of interaction was characteristic of paleontology during most of its existence, but has declined due, in large part, to our own success. Today paleontology is far more diverse than it was 20 or even 10 years ago; encompassing everything from descriptive systematics and biostratigraphy to remote sensing and biogeochemistry. In addition, paleontology has also been subdivided into the professional sectors of industry, academics, museums, and government to the extent that paleontologists in some sectors have come to feel as though they have little in common with their colleagues who have found employment elsewhere. The re-establishment of connections between paleontologists of all types is PaleoNet's primary goal. PaleoNet's operating model falls somewhere between an informal electronic journal and a very large social gathering of paleontological professionals (including students) convened to discuss current events in the field. As a subscriber, you can expect to find wide variety of information accessible through PaleoNet at any time. These include ongoing informal conversations about papers, ideas, techniques, requests for information, announcements, etc., set against a background of more formal contributions such as editorials, meeting reviews, book reviews, software reviews, and the like. The purpose of these exchanges is to put you in touch, and keep you in touch, with what is happening in paleontology. The key concept that makes PaleoNet work, however, is participation. Since PaleoNet is primarily a forum for public communication within the paleontological community, all postings to PaleoNet should be made to the entire subscriber list and not to individuals. Anyone who receives a reply to his or her PaleoNet message through a private e-mail posting is encouraged to make the posting public along with their response.PaleoNet would also like to make a special request for participation by graduate students. I know that during both my M.S. and Ph.D. programs I often felt isolated because there were few people on my campus who were interested in the research problems with which I was grappling or had expertise/experience in the fields my research demanded. This is natural, but that realization does little to ease your sense frustration. PaleoNet is offered to you, as a practical means of finding knowledgeable people with which to discuss your research problems. Moreover, PaleoNet offers a means whereby you can participate in discussions of direct relevance to your future careers side-by-side with interested paleontologists from a wide variety of backgrounds and at all stages of their own career development. PaleoNet is not affiliated with any professional paleontological society but seeks to serve as a clearinghouse for any information of relevance to any form of paleontology. Additional information about PaleoNet is available on the PaleoNet web sites: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/Paleonet/ (PaleoNet West) http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/paleonet/ (PaleoNet East) Addresses There are two e-mail addresses used by PaleoNet subscribers to post messages to the PaleoNet list and configure various list options for their address. The address to which messages to the PaleoNet list are sent (= PaleoNet List Address) is: PaleoNet@nhm.ac.uk This address should be clearly distinguished from the e-mail address of the PaleoNet listserver management software (PaleoNet Server Address) to which the commands that are the subject of this User's Guide are sent. That address is: PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk All e-mail lists are basically computer programs designed to accept e-mail messages from senders and route those to the list subscribers. In this sense, the distinction between the PaleoNet List Address and the PaleoNet Server Address reflects the difference between the datafile and program control options of any computer program. The Majordomo software that manages PaleoNet expects messages that are to be routed to the entire list to come to one address (the List Address). User commands that will control and/or change the manner in which the software sends you PaleoNet messages must, of course, be sent to a different address (the Server Address) to avoid confusion. This manual primarily concerns itself with commands that PaleoNet subscribers can send to the PaleoNet List Address to control the manner in which PaleoNet messages are sent to them and/or get information about the PaleoNet list from the Majordomo software. Because all commands to Majordomo are sumbitted by e-mail PaleoNet users must be careful with any other text (e.g., signature files) that might be appended to their command messages. The danger here is that upon encountering any non-command text the server software might mistakenly regard this text as a command, become confused, and fail to execute any valid commands contained in the message. User's may avoid this by turning off any "append signature" routines in their e-mail software when they send commands to the PaleoNet server address. The other e-mail address that PaleoNet subscribers should take note of is that of the PaleoNet list-owner: N.MacLeod@nhm.ac.uk If you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, or are having any technical difficulty subscribing, unsubscribing, sending messages to, or getting messages from PaleoNet, please feel free to contact me. Subscription* The commands you can use to subscribe to PaleoNet are: subscribe PaleoNet or subscribe PaleoNet <e-mail address> Both commands should be typed on a single line of an e-mail message and sent to the PaleoNet Server Address (PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk). Either command should be followed by a carriage return and there should be no other information (e.g., signature text) included. The commands are not case sensitive so you can use upper-case letters, lower case-letters, or any combination thereof in your command. The first form of the command (subscribe PaleoNet) will instruct the server to use the return address of the incoming message as your subscription address. The second form of the command (subscribe PaleoNet <e-mail address>) will allow you to specify an address other than the return address of the incoming message as your subscription address. You can use the second form of the command to subscribe yourself from a remote location. *When you subscribe to PaleoNet the Majordomo software places your e-mail address on the master PaleoNet list. It then uses this list to route all incoming PaleoNet messages to PaleoNet subscribers. If your e-mail address changes for any reason difficulties can develop unless you change your e-mail address on the PaleoNet list and/or contact the list-owner (see above) prior to the change. It is often the case that when subscriber's e-mail addresses change their local network managers will insert aliases into their local systems that will automatically route mail sent to their old address to the new address. This practice is very convenient, but can lead to frustrating problems later on when the user issues a command to PaleoNet's Majordomo server software under his/her new address and the software responds that the subscriber is not a member of the list because it cannot find the new address on its list. The best policy is to make a record of the e-mail address under which you subscribe to PaleoNet and then report any change to the list-owner so that he can make sure the appropriate changes are made in PaleoNet's subscriber list. Unsubscription There are two commands subscribers can use to permanently remove themselves from the PaleoNet list: unsubscribe PaleoNet or unsubscribe PaleoNet <e-mail address> Like the subscribe commands (see above) these commands are not case-sensitive and should be sent to the PaleoNet Server Address (PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk). Either command should be followed by a carriage return and there should be no other information (e.g., signature text) included. The commands are not case sensitive so you can use upper-case letters, lower case-letters, or any combination thereof in your command. The first form of the command (unsubscribe PaleoNet) will instruct the server to unsubscribe the return address of the incoming message from the list. The second form of the command (subscribe PaleoNet <e-mail address>) will allow you to remove an address other than the return address of the incoming message as your subscription address. You can use the second form of the command to unsubscribe yourself from a remote location. It should also help in the event your e-mail address changes and you want to unsubscribe the old address. Reply Default PaleoNet's reply default is set to send standard replies back to the entire PaleoNet list. If a subscriber wishes to send their reply directly to the person who posted the message they must manually type or copy that person's e-mail address onto the "To:" line of their e-mail program. There is no way for individual users to change this feature of PaleoNet. PaleoNet Archives Archives of previous PaleoNet messages are available at serveral different addresses. All archive locations can be addressed from the PaleoNet Archives Page within this WWW Site. Digests PaleoNet digests are available. These consist of collections of all PaleoNet postings that are automatically sent to PaleoNet-digest subscribers once every week. Digests are an excellent way of remaining (relatively) current with what's happening on PaleoNet without having PaleoNet postings arrive in your mailbox individually. PaleoNet digests are set up as a separate list called paleonet-digest. In order to become a PaleoNet digest subscriber send the command subscribe paleonet-digest to the PaleoNet Server Address (PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk). Unsubscribing from the PaleoNet digest list is accomplished by sending the command unsubscribe paleonet-digest to the same address. Although the PaleoNet digests are administratively treated as a separate list all messages posted to PaleoNet are routed to the digest list and all members of the digest list are able to post messages to PaleoNet. If you are a digest subscriber and want to post a PaleoNet message please direct the message to the normal PaleoNet address (PaleoNet@nhm.ac.uk). Also, if you currently are a regular PaleoNet subscriber and wish to become a digest subscriber, don't forget to unsubscribe yourself from the regular PaleoNet list (see above). Otherwise you will receive individual postings and the weekly digest collection. Recipients List Subscribers can request that they be mailed a copy of all non-concealed (see below) PaleoNet subscribers by submitting one of the commands: who PaleoNet The commands are not case sensitive and should be sent to the PaleoNet Server Address (PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk). No other text should be included on the command line. Information About The List Subscribers can request that they be mailed a descriptive summary of the PaleoNet list by submitting the command: info PaleoNet This command is not case sensitive and should be sent to the PaleoNet Server Address (PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk). No other text should be included on the command line. Online Help Subscribers can obtain a description of all subscriber options and associated commands available for PaleoNet (= this document) by submitting the command: intro PaleoNet This command is not case sensitive and should be sent to the PaleoNet Server Address (PaleoNet-Request@nhm.ac.uk). No other text should be included on the command line. Norman MacLeod Department of Palaeontology The Natural History Museum Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD N.MacLeod@nhm.ac.uk -- ___________________________________________________________________ Dr. Norman MacLeod Associate Keeper Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD (0)20-7942-5295 (Office) (0)20-7942-5546 (Fax) Web Page: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/palaeontology/a&ss/nm/nm.html ___________________________________________________________________
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