The Co-op Net Electronic Mailing List: Information from the List Sponsor

Introduction

Welcome to Co-opNet, an electronic mailing list run by the Southampton Co-op Network to promote Co-operatives and Co-operation, and to encourage constructive and diverse discussion on Co-operative and related issues. The emphasis will probably be on UK co-ops and possibly on worker co-ops, although we would not want non-UK and/or non-worker co-op people to feel that this list was not for them too.

This list exists for Co-operators to chat about all things Co-operative. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion. New subscribers may feel wary about posting their thoughts or comments to the list, but we are a friendly group so don't be bashful. Remember, if no-one posts anything to the list, it may as well not be there.

This list has already shown itself to be an excellent method of sharing ideas and information between Co-operators from all around the world. If you have questions, ask them; if you have ideas, let's hear them.

The List Sponsor

This list is currently sponsored by Total Coverage Limited on behalf of the Southampton Co-op Network. Total Coverage is a Co-operative owned and controlled by its employees, providing high quality creative graphic design, copywriting and related marketing support services. For more information on Total Coverage and the services we provide, contact us on tel: 01703 678330, or via email at info@totalcoverage.co.uk. Alternatively you could check out the website at http://www.totalcoverage.co.uk.

Guidelines

The subscribers are not vetted in any way, membership is open and voluntary without any restriction (now where have I heard that before ;-), so you may wish to consider what information you are prepared to disseminate via this list. Not that I am proposing that you censor your postings in any way, or that some nasty capitalist spies are listening in. All I am saying is that I don't know who IS listening in at any time.

If you want to set up a separate list for a more tightly focused discussion or for a defined working group, then we will be pleased to set one up for you at very reasonable cost (call Guy on 01703 678330 - or email: guy@totalcoverage.co.uk for more info).

Please don't try to send attachments to the list. Different subscribers have different software with different capabilities. Attachments often cause problems for people due to the encoding methods used, etc. If you want your message to be read, don't send it as an attachment. If you want to find out more about attachments, read the documentation that came with your email software. In order to enforce this, a recent upgrade of the listserver software has enabled us to block messages that have attachments. This means that the mail will simply not be posted to the list, and you as sender of that message will get a short message from the software with an inappropriate comment in it.

Helping the List to Grow

Encourage people you know who have Internet access and an interest in Co-operation to subscribe to this list also, as the list will become increasingly viable and valuable as the number of subscribers grows.

How The Co-opNet List Works

If you have never come across an electronic mailing list before, this is how it works. People, normally subscribers to the list, are able to send a single email message to one single address (the list address) that then gets automatically copied and distributed to all the people who subscribe to that list. At the time of writing the Co-opNet list has about 160 or so subscribers, so if you send a message to the list then every one of those people will receive a copy of that message automatically.

The beauty of the list for subscribers is that they receive email about a subject of interest to them, in this case Co-operatives, and can send messages which they know to be of likely interest to other list subscribers, without needing to know who they  are, or what all their email addresses are.

The listserver software looks after all (or at least most) of the administration. People can join and leave the list remotely, just by sending control messages to the listserver software. Of course, if you get stuck or can't seem to get the result you want, there is a human available (co-opnet-admin@totalcoverage.co.uk) to try and help you out.

How to Post Messages to the Co-opNet List

To post messages to the list, you first need to be a subscriber (see 'Joining and Leaving the Co-opNet List' below). As you have received this message you are probably already a subscriber. As a subscriber you not only get sent copies of all postings to the list, but you can also send your own postings. To send a posting all you need do is address your email message to : co-opnet@totalcoverage.co.uk.

Your email posting will automatically be copied to all the people who are subscribers at that time.

Replying to Messages

If you receive a message from the list, and want to reply to it, take a moment to think about who the reply is for. If it is for the whole list to read, then by all means send the reply to the list address (with most email software, this will be the default address that comes up if you hit the Reply button).

Alternatively you may be aiming your reply solely at the author of the message, in which case be careful to ensure that your addressing is correct (sending emails to the wrong address, especially when that address is a mailing list with lots of people subscribed to it, has been known to cause embarrasment, as well as humour).

Joining and Leaving the Co-opNet List

The listserver software we use here at Total Coverage offers a very simple method of remote subscription and unsubscription.

To JOIN to the mailing list, send an email to: co-opnet-on@totalcoverage.co.uk

To LEAVE the list, send an email to: co-opnet-on@totalcoverage.co.uk
co-opnet-on@totalcoverage.co.uk instead of the standard co-opnet-on@totalcoverage.co.uk

Subscription Address Weirdness

You may find that you are receiving messages fine, but when you try to post a message to the list, all you get back is a curt little note from the listserver software saying you need to be subscribed in order to post. But surely I am subscribed, you say to yourself, somewhat confused and angry. Not necessarily. The common problem here is that people are subscribed under one address, e.g. freda@niceco-op.co.uk, and then send mail to the list from a different address, e.g. sam@niceco-op.co.uk. The listserver software, being only a load of code and having no soul, is deeply stupid.

Make sure that when you want to send mail to the list, you do it from an address that is subscribed to the list. If you want to subscribe several addresses to the list in order to facilitate this, then that is fine. The only downside is that you will get all the Co-opNet messages sent to every one of those addresses. Occasionally other stuff might happen, such as the mailserver going AWOL or somesuch. If this happens we will obviously try and do what we can to recover from the situation quickly, but we don't offer any guarantees of service quality (it is a free service after all).

If you are experiencing problems with the list, first of all find this message (which you will have sensibly saved somewhere) and read it again. It may well contain the solution to your problems. If not, then email me at admin@totalcoverage.co.uk, and I will do what I can to resolve the situation.

The Archive

The messages posted on Co-opNet are archived on the Web at http://www.poptel.net/links/co-opnet/. Our thanks go to Poptel, the Co-operative Internet Service Provider, for their support in maintaining this archive. For more info about Poptel and the services they provide, visit http://www.poptel.net/

Also, the listserver software is kind enough to keep an archive of all the weekly digests as they are created, in such a way that you can request the archived digests to be sent to you. There are a number of control messages which enable you to do this, as follows:

All control messages must be sent to the listserver address (listserver@totalcoverage.co.uk), and not the list address (co-opnet@totalcoverage.co.uk)

To send a control message simply key in the control command into the BODY of the message. Do not put anything in the subject header as this is disregarded.

To get a list of the archived digests available use the command: INDEX co-opnet

In return you will get a list which looks something like:

Co-opnet_Digest_1 (8K) 2/6/97
Co-opnet_Digest_2 (39K) 9/6/97
Co-opnet_Digest_3 (45K) 16/6/97
Co-opnet_Digest_4 (24K) 23/6/97
Co-opnet_Digest_5 (27K) 30/6/97
Co-opnet_Digest_6 (19K) 7/7/97
Co-opnet_Digest_7 (4K) 11/7/97
Co-opnet_Digest_8 (2K) 16/7/97
Co-opnet_Digest_9 (49K) 28/7/97
Digest (2K) 12/8/97

where digestname is the name of the digest, as list above, e.g. Co-opnet_Digest_6

The table of contents is actually made up from the subject headers of the various messages, so it is helpful to use clear and concise subject headers wherever possible, in order to give the digests and the archive better clarity.
 
To get a specific digest, use the command: GET co-opnet digestname
 

Getting Information

The information message you are reading is available from the listserver address by using the command: INFO co-opnet

Getting Help

If you have any problems with the technical aspects of getting the list to work for you, your first port of call is this message. If it does not help you to solve your problem then by all means get in touch with the list administrator (co-opnet-adminm@totalcoverage.co.uk) who works to maintain the list in some semblance of working order.

Copyright and Ownership of Co-opNet Messages

The information that is distributed via Co-opNet is the property of the author, NOT of the list owner or list subscribers. If you want to make use of any of the information you receive through Co-opNet, you must first contact the author of the message and seek their permission for your planned use of the material. Failure to do this might result in you being taken to court for breach of copyright. At the very least you might be unsubscribed from Co-opNet for bringing the list into disrepute.

Please play nicely and respect other people's property.

Disclaimer

The views and comments expressed on the Co-pNet list are not necessarily those of the sponsors, or the list administrator, but should be regarded as coming from the original sender solely.

Enjoy.

co-opnet-admin@totalcoverage.co.uk