The AnswerSquad email mailing lists are managed by a program called Mailman, and you use Mailman to subscribe, unsubscribe, change your list settings, or read the list archives. Here's an introduction to AnswerSquad's Mailman installation.

Important Web Addresses

The web site for the AnswerSquad-Main mailing list (our main discussion list) is at http://www.answersquad.com/mailman/listinfo/answersquad-main. From this page you can unsubscribe, change your settings, and read the archives (for subscribers only).

For other information about AnswerSquad, go to http://www.answersquad.com.

Important E-mail Address

To post a question, answer, comment, or other message to the AnswerSquad-Mail list, create a message in your email program addressed to: answersquad-main@answersquad.com

If you are having trouble with your subscription, don't post it to the list, since other subscribers probably aren't interested. Instead, write to the list manager at taylor@answersquad.com or answersquad-main-owner@answersquad.com

List Passwords

The AnswerSquad system assigns you a password when you subscribe to the list. You use this password later when you want to change your list settings or unsubscribe. Make a note of the password when you receive it. Don't use the password you use when you connect to the Internet or retrieve your email.

When you subscribe, AnswerSquad sends you a confirmation message that includes your list password. You may want to take this opportunity to change it if it's not something you'll be able to remember (see below).

Don't panic if you forget your AnswerSquad list password! You can find out your password any time:

1. Go to the list's home page.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page, type your email address, and click Edit Options.
3. Click the Email My Password To Me button.

Changing Your Password

To change your list password:

1. Go to the list's home page.
2. At the bottom of the list's home page is a section for subscribers of the list. Type your email address into the box and click the Edit Options button to see your own configuration page for your list subscription.
3. In the Change Your Password part of the page, type your old password (once) and your new password (twice).
4. Click the Change My Password button.

Unsubscribing (Signing Off)

The easiest way to unsubscribe or signoff from an AnswerSquad mailing list is to follow the instructions in your welcome message to go to your page for the list, type in your list password (the one you typed when you subscribed) in the Unsubscribing section, and click Unsubscribe. Please note that you also need to notify us of your subscription cancellation through our contact us page, specifying that you'r unsubscribing.

If you don't have the welcome message for the list:

1. Go to the list's home page.
2. At the bottom of the page is a section for subscribers. Fill in your email address and click the Edit Options button. You see the configuration page for your subscription.
3. In the Unsubscribing section, type your list password and click Unsubscribe.

Receiving a Daily Digest of Messages

In digest mode, Mailman sends messages in batches, one or more batches a day. Instead of getting 13 separate messages, you get one or two long "digest" messages. If you aren't subscribed in digest mode, you can switch to it any time.

To switch to receiving digests, or to switch back to receiving individual messages:

1. Go to the list's home page.
2. At the bottom of the list's home page is a section for subscribers of the list. Type your email address into the box and click the Edit Options button to see your own configuration page for your list subscription.
3. Scroll down to the Your AnswerSquad-Main Subscription Options section of the page, which includes a setting called Set Digest Mode. Click the "on" box if you want to get your list messages in a daily digest. Click the "off" box if you want to receive list messages as individual messages.
4. Scroll further down, type your list password, and click the Submit My Changes button.

Temporarily Disabling Your Subscription

If you will be on vacation and don't want to receive AnswerSquad message while you are gone, you can tell Mailman not to send you messages. (Please note, however, this doesn't affect your billing cycle, so if you will be gone for more than a few days, you may want to contact us so you don't have to pay for your AnswerSquad subscription during the time you are gone)

To turn your messages on or off:

1. Go to the list's home page.
2. At the bottom of the list's home page is a section for subscribers of the list. Type your email address into the box and click the Edit Options button to see your own configuration page for your list subscription.
3. Scroll down to the Your AnswerSquad-Main Subscription Options section of the page, which includes a setting called Disable Mail Delivery. Click the "on" box to disabling on (that is, to hold your mail).
4. Scroll further down, type your list password, and click the Submit My Changes button.

Filtering Your Messages into a Separate Mailbox

If you're drowning in email, you may want to keep your AnswerSquad list messages separate from your day-to-day correspondence. Here's how.

Outlook Express:

1. Choose Message - Create Rule From Message from the menu in the message window. You see the New Mail Rule window.
2. Choose the condition(s) for the rule by clicking the appropriate check box in the "1. Select the Conditions for your rule" section. Select "Where the Subject line contains [AnswerSquad]".
3. Choose what to do with messages that follow this rule. In your case, you want to move the to your AnswerSquad mailbox (whatever it's called), so choose "Move it to the specified folder" in section "2. Select the Actions for your Rule." In the "3. Rule Description" section, click the blue "specified" link (in "specified folder") and choose your AnswerSquad folder.
4. Click OK.

Now Outlook Express should sort incoming AnswerSquad messages directly into a separate mailbox.

Ximian Evolution:

1. Select Tools | Filters
2. In the Filters dialog, make sure incoming is selected in the upper dropdown list box.
3. Click the Add button.
4. In the Add Rule dialog, I gave the rule the name "AnswerSquad Main Upgrade."
5. Beneath the If button, I select Sender in the far left, contains in the middle, and add AnswerSquad-main@AnswerSquad.com to the text box on the right.
6. Beneath the Then button, I select Set Status on the left and Important on the right.
7. Click OK, the rule is created.

Outlook:

Before beginning these steps, you will probably want to create a new folder, such as one called AnswerSquad. To do this, right click your Inbox in the folder list, choose New Folder, and in the Create New Folder window type the name of the folder (AnswerSquad) and click OK.

Then, to create the Filter:

1. Choose Tools - Rules Wizard. You will see the Rules Wizard window.
2. Click New. The next Rules Wizard window will open.
3. Choose "Check messages when they arrive"
4. Click Next.
5. Scroll down and check "with specific words in the subject". In the lower box, click "specific words". The Search Text window will open.
6. In the Add New box, type AnswerSquad and click Add; then click OK.
7. Back in the Rules Wizard window, check "move it to the specified folder".
8. In the lower box, click the word "specified". A folder window will open.
9. In the folder window, click your AnswerSquad folder (or whatever folder you wish to put your messages in) and click OK.
10. Back in the Rules wizard window, click Finish.
11. The original Rules Wizard window will show again, and you can click OK.

Eudora:

1. Make a mailbox for the AnswerSquad mailing list. (You can display a list of your mailboxes by choosing Tools | Mailboxes. Create a mailbox by choosing Mailbox | New.)
2. Display a message from the mailing list.
3. Choose Special | Make Filter, or right-click the message and choose Make Filter from the menu that appears. You see the Make Filter dialog box. Eudora copies information from the message into a new filter to get you started.
4. Select Any Recipient and set it to <answersquad-main@answersquad.com>.
5. Select Transfer to Existing Mailbox and choose the mail box you just created.
6. Click Create Filter.

Reading List Archives

The AnswerSquad mailing lists maintain archives, so you can go back and read questions and answers that have already gone by. You can read the list archives on a set of Web pages maintained by a program called PiperMail. To read the archives:

1. Go to the list's home page.
2. Click the AnswerSquad-Main Archives link.
3. Mailman prompts you for your email address and password. Type them and click Let Me In.

For each month, you can see the messages by thread (that is, a message and all the replies to it), by subject (alphabetically by subject line), by author (sender), or by date. You can also download a file of all the messages.

List Etiquette

Each email mailing list has its own rules of etiquette as determined by the list's managers and subscribers. Following are some etiquette guidelines that apply to the AnswerSquad lists:

Be specific. Don't say "My document won't print right." Say exactly what's wrong. The more information you provide up front, the less waiting for us to ask you for the information later. Be sure to specify (as appropriate) the operating system (Windows, Mac, UNIX, Linux, etc.) and version, the name and version of the software you are having trouble with, your system's RAM, speed and hard disk size, your Internet connection speed -- whatever appears to you to relate to your question.

Use descriptive subject lines: When writing a new message or replying to a message, make sure that the subject line describes your message as specifically as possible. Never send a message with the subject "Help!" when it could say "Need port number for FTP." Mailman automatically adds [AnswerSquad] to the beginning of the subject line.

Identify yourself: Most email programs let you define a signature which appears at the end of each message you send. Your signature should be no more than four lines long and include your name, your email address, your Web home page (if any), and a pithy quote or tag line.

When replying, include the relevant part of the original message: Most email programs provide way to "quote" the text of the message you are replying to. When people read your reply, they may not remember exactly which message you are replying to. Including the message puts your message in context. On the other hand, delete the parts of the message that aren't relevant, so each reader doesn't have to wade through headers, signatures, and other stuff that doesn't pertain to your message.

Reply privately when your message isn't of interest to the group: When you reply to a message, consider whether to send your reply to the mailing list or to the person who wrote the message you are replying to. General, we encourage technical discussions to stay on the list so everyone can benefit from them. however, if you have an off-topic remark (like "Hey, I used to work at your company!"), send your reply directly to the person who wrote the message.

Don't "flame": "Flaming" is sending messages that are far more belligerent, sarcastic, accusatory, or just plain mean than you would be in person. Something about email prompts otherwise polite, kind people into acting like TOTAL JERKS on mailing lists (see -- that was a flame right there!). If you are tempted to send an angry message, take a walk around the block first.

Don't talk if you don't have anything to say: Put that way, this rule seems pretty obvious. But lots of people post messages that say "Me too!" or "I agree!" when they don't have anything to add to the discussion. Let's keep our lists chock full of valuable technical information and skip the fluff.

Don't be fancy: Send messages in plain text, without HTML formatting unless there's a compelling reason to use HTML formatting. For instructions on sending plain text messages, go to the "Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text" page at http://www.expita.com/nomime.html.

Don't post messages to a list unless you personally know the information in it to be true. All the recent messages about computer viruses have proven to be bogus, so don't waste everyone's time with them. Ditto for news flashes about proposed modem taxes. To check out Internet scams, go to the U.S. Government's Computer Incident Advisory Capability Web site at http://www.ciac.org/ciac.