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Archiver > AUS-SAGEN > 2002-08 > 1029194396


From: "Julie Stokes" <>
Subject: [AUS-SAGEN] ADMIN:- Complaints about NO MAIL
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 08:50:32 +0930


People

Over the past few days, I have seen numerous whinges and complaints about there being no mail from the list. I have sat back and said nothing for a while, but the time has come when I must speak up.

Please understand once and for all, that the mail getting through to you is dependent upon a number of factors:-

1) that YOU have sent the mail to the right place in the first place
2) that YOUR email carrier is not having problems
3) that the EMAIL CARRIERS between your email provider and the Rootsweb server are not having problems or are not down for any reason
4) that the ROOTSWEB email provider which provides the mailing list are not down or having problems or restructuring (this often causes problems)
5) YOU have changed your email address and haven't unsubscribed your old one or subscribed you new one

When you send an email to AUS-SAGEN it follows this path:-

>From your computer to YOUR email provider >>> Your provider to Their carrier >>> their carrier to Telstra >>> Telstra to Rootsweb's preferred carrier >>> Rootsweb's preferred carrier to Rootsweb's mail robots >>>> Rootsweb's mail robots to Rootsweb's mail server for the individual lists. And it does the same in reverse when it is coming back to you.

If any one of those jumps is having problems, then mail is not going to get through - either from you or to you.

Nothing that I or anyone else sitting here in front of a computer at home sending email to AUS-SAGEN is going to be able to do about whether the mail is getting through or not. The only thing we can do - that is you the senders and we the receivers (meaning everyone who is subscribed to this list) - is make sure that we are sending our emails to the right address in the first place. The correct address for posting to the List and Digest versions of AUS-SAGEN are:

for List format
for Digest format

Some of you seem to think that the list owner and assistants receive each of your emails ourselves individually and decide whether or not they are worthy of posting to the list. I can assure you that this is not the case. If it were, then there would be some stuff that gets through now, that deffinately wouldn't get through at all. Your mail to and from the list is handled just as I have explained above. There is no human intervention from the minute it leaves your computer until it returns to you - it is all automatic and is controlled by Rootsweb (which is in the USA - certainly not here in Adelaide SA!)

Whether you whinge and it "miraculously works again" or not is none of our doing. It is in the lap of the Rootsweb computer gods.

The amount of mail that you receive from the list is entirely dependent upon the amount of mail that other people are sending to the list. If you are subscribed to the list in LIST format, then you will receive every mail that is sent to the list individually, including your own. If you are subscribed to the list in DIGEST format, then you will received one mail containing a number of postings at one time - BUT you should realise that there is a size limit set on the Digest format which will hold the mail until that limit is reached and then send the Digest to you.

So, if you are having problems with receiving mail, please check what format you are subscribed in. If it is Digest, then just sit back and wait for enough people to have sent mail to the list for it to reach the size limit, when it is reached, you will get the mail. If that is unsatisfactory to you, then unsubscribe from Digest format and subscribe in List format - then you will get your mail as quickly as everyone seems to want it.

I can't offer you any other answers than these. I hope that this will clear up some of the misconceptions and stop some of the complaints and whinges about this subject, because over the past week and a bit there have been more mails come through about people NOT getting mail than there has about matters that are genealogical or historical. The list is for genealogy and history, not for complaints about people not getting their mail.

And a final word on the subject - it is YOUR responsibility to unsubscribe your old email address and subscribe your new one. It is amazing how many people send us emails asking us to do this for them. Occasionally (such as the One Tel collapse) it is unavoidable and in those circumstances we will help out, but if you are just changing your email provider because you can, then it is your job to unsubscribe your old email address BEFORE it expires and resubscribe yourself with your new one. Each and every one of you received an email with the directions on how to subscribe and unsubscribe to and from AUS-SAGEN when you first subscribed to the list, you should have kept it and refer to it when you need to make changes.

Unsubscribing
Send an email to with ONLY the word unsubscribe in the body (this) part of the email - do not put signatures or anything else in the body part - if your email is set to automatically put stuff in there- delete it before sending. for the digest version works the same way.

Maintaining the list takes up a lot of time. Be kind. It is purely voluntary, we don't get paid to do it. You all enjoy using the list, and for the most part seem to be benefitting from its existence in your genealogical research, how about helping us a bit, so that others can help you.

regards

Julie Stokes
Listowner

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