[Waverley ARS] Club Mailing List - failed messages etc

[Simon Buxton]

Hi

 From time to time members attempt to post messages to the club list but 
they never arrive, so it is worth mentioning the most common reasons for 
this, plus a few other tips for the list.

Three rules in particular cause the most difficulty. The first is the
"size limit" (currently 50k) designed to prevent viruses and inadvertent
posting of large images to those who don't want them. To avoid a hold 
up, post a URL to a file where possible (we can put it on the club web 
site if need be) not forgetting to describe what it is.

If you *really* need to post a large message to *all* members, such as a 
big graphic, it can be done by referring to Eric, Raffy or myself who 
can approve it or have it posted to the web site, as we do for items 
such as the Westlakes Magazine. We don't regularly go looking for 
quarantined messages.

Another is the "Too many recipients" rule which is used to discourage
spam and too much duplication of messages. This arises where people post 
the one message both to the list and to several individual members. It 
is not necessary to do this as all members with email should already be 
on the list. If you want a response from a particular member and at the 
same time notify other members, address the text of the message to 
Raffy, Eric etc. One or two non-club recipients are OK though.

The last is messages posted using an email address that has not been 
signed up to the list. In this case it is treated as if it is spam and 
rejected out of hand. To avoid this, ensure that all addresses you might 
want to post from are signed up. To prevent receiving multiple copies in 
your inbox or to stop sendings if you are away, you can log in and set 
addresses to "nomail". The list only recognises participating email 
addresses and not individuals, so that if you have a new email address, 
you do not "chenge your address" but "add the new one" and then once you 
know its working "delete the old one".

Another problem is spam like messages which are accepted by the list but
many members delete out of hand. These are messages that quote little
more than a URL and a note saying "look at this". In these cases please
give a short description explaining the interest to club members. Few of
us have time to go to the trouble of having a look otherwise.

Another reminder that those who wish to use the callsign at vk2bv.org
facility for incoming emails will need to advise Ben VK2XUF of any
change in callsign or if you do not have this facility (send your
callsign to VK2XUF @ that address). You can
test by sending an email to yourself.

73 Simon