4D Mailing List FAQ v3.4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is the 4D NUG and the 4D Mailing List?
  
• 4D Mailing List FAQ Distribution
  
• 4D NUG Volunteers and Benefactors
  
• Normal (Individual Messages) vs Digest
  
• Overview of Important Email Addresses
  
• Subscribing
  
• Unsubscribing
  
• Using a Local Redistribution List
  
• Changing Your Subscribed Email Address
  
• Posting Messages
  
• *** 4D Mailing List Rules -- REQUIRED READING!!! ***
  
• Reasons for Bounced Email
  
• Reasons to be Automatically Unsubscribed
  
• Why am I getting duplicate email?
  
• Why am I NOT getting any email?
  
• 4D NUG Web Server
  
• Third Party 4D NUG Message Archives and Utilities
  
• Copyright Policies
  
• Feedback
  

What is the 4D NUG and the 4D Mailing List?

The 4th Dimension Networked Users Group (4D NUG) provides an Internet forum for users and developers of the 4th Dimension RAD / RDBMS (relational and Web database environment for Macintosh and Windows) to exchange ideas and techniques, discuss problems and solutions, swap code fragments, announce 4D jobs and products, and basically help each other out.

The 4D NUG sponsors three mailing lists. The first two lists are also referred to collectively as the 4D Mailing List.

• The 4D Tech Mailing List is the primary vehicle for communication and support among 4D netizens worldwide. This list is specifically for technical discussions about the 4D environment, as well as announcements for 4D-related jobs, products, services, and events.
  
  
• The 4D Biz Mailing List covers mostly non-technical discussions of interest to the 4D developer community such as licensing issues, running a business, the bidding process, documentation, and copyrights. Technical discussions that are off-topic or have become off-topic on the 4D Tech Mailing List can also be further discussed on this list.
  
  
• The 4D Pub Mailing List is an informal forum for 4D netizens to hang out with each other, chit chat, plan / announce IRL (in real life) get-togethers with fellow 4D netizens, and just have fun!
  

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4D Mailing List FAQ Distribution

The latest version of the 4D Mailing List FAQ which applies to all 4D NUG-sponsored mailing lists is available:

• Via the Web at:
  http://www.4dnug.com/4d_mailing_list_faq.html
  
  
• Via email to requests@lists.4dnug.com with the command "info 4d-tech" in the SUBJECT of the message (leave the BODY of the message blank).
  

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4D NUG Volunteers and Benefactors

Karen Sabog is the admin for the 4D NUG-sponsored mailing lists and handles all the list administrivia remotely. She has been directly involved in maintaining the the 4D Internet resources since 1992 and is not affiliated or employed by 4D Inc or Pacific Data Management (PDM). PDM in San Jose, California takes care of any network and server-specific issues that must be performed locally on the mailing list server which is a Power Macintosh running LetterRip Pro by Fog City Software.

A huge "Mahalo Nui Loa" (Thank You Very Much) goes out to the following individuals:

• John Beaulieu of Pacific Data Management for hosting the 4D NUG mailing lists and archiving the messages in Monkeywerks
  
  
• Brendan Coveney of 4D Inc for donating a Power Mac G3 Server for the list server hardware
  
  
• Will Mayall of Fog City Software and Garage.com for donating the LetterRip Pro list server software
  
  
• Rich Gay of Linbeck Construction for donating Timbuktu Pro and Rebound, being my backup admin, and his overall generosity and support
  
  
• Dave Batton of DataCraft for donating Rumpus
  

If you have any questions or comments regarding the 4D NUG mailing lists, please send them directly to Karen Sabog at 4d-admin@4dnug.com.

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Normal (Individual Messages) vs Digest

4D NUG maintains two "subscriber" versions for each of its mailing lists:

1. "Normal" version -- subscribers receive the individual messages as they are posted.
   
   
2. "Digest" version -- subscribers receive the individual messages periodically each day in batches (generated at 8PM / 9PM / 10PM US Pacific time for the 4D Tech Mailing List / 4D Biz Mailing List / 4D Pub Mailing List respectively, and when the digest grows to at least 30K in size).
   

Note: The 4D Tech Mailing List is generally heavy in volume at times (approximately 60+ messages/day), so I would recommend at least subscribing to the 4D Tech Digest version at first.

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Overview of Important Email Addresses

The following addresses are used to manage and operate these lists:

1. requests@lists.4dnug.com with the command "info 4d-tech" in the SUBJECT of the message -- for obtaining this FAQ
   
   
2. 4d-tech-on@lists.4dnug.com, 4d-biz-on@lists.4dnug.com and 4d-pub-on@lists.4dnug.com -- for subscribing to the normal version of these lists
   
   
3. 4d-tech-digest@lists.4dnug.com, 4d-biz-digest@lists.4dnug.com and 4d-pub-digest@lists.4dnug.com -- for subscribing to the digest version of these lists
   
   
4. 4d-tech-off@lists.4dnug.com, 4d-biz-off@lists.4dnug.com and 4d-pub-off@lists.4dnug.com -- for unsubscribing from these lists
   
   
5. 4d-admin@4dnug.com -- for contacting the list admin with your comments, questions, and problems regarding mailing list administrivia
   

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Subscribing

Email your subscribe request to one of the following subscribe accounts for automated processing by the LetterRip list server. Leave the body of the message blank.

The LetterRip mailing list server will automatically extract the email address and name contained in your FROM mail header (or the REPLY-TO if one exists) when processing your subscribe request. If you must use a REPLY-TO mail header, make sure that you configure it to include BOTH your name and address, e.g., FirstName LastName <email@domain.com>, or else the LetterRip list server will only be able to extract your email address.

• To subscribe to the 4D Tech Mailing List  -OR-  to switch from the 4D Tech Digest (if already a digest subscriber) to the 4D Tech Mailing List, send email:
  

  To: 4d-tech-on@lists.4dnug.com

  
  
• To subscribe to the 4D Tech Digest  -OR-  to switch from the 4D Tech Mailing List (if already a list subscriber) to the 4D Tech Digest, send email:
  

  To: 4d-tech-digest@lists.4dnug.com

  
  
• To subscribe to the 4D Biz Mailing List  -OR-  to switch from the 4D Biz Digest (if already a digest subscriber) to the 4D Biz Mailing List, send email:
  

  To: 4d-biz-on@lists.4dnug.com

  
  
• To subscribe to the 4D Biz Digest  -OR-  to switch from the 4D Biz Mailing List (if already a list subscriber) to the 4D Biz Digest, send email:
  

  To: 4d-biz-digest@lists.4dnug.com

  
  
• To subscribe to the 4D Pub Mailing List  -OR-  to switch from the 4D Pub Digest (if already a digest subscriber) to the 4D Pub Mailing List, send email:
  

  To: 4d-pub-on@lists.4dnug.com

  
  
• To subscribe to the 4D Pub Digest  -OR-  to switch from the 4D Pub Mailing List (if already a list subscriber) to the 4D Pub Digest, send email:
  

  To: 4d-pub-digest@lists.4dnug.com

NOTE: The LetterRip list server only allows you to be subscribed to EITHER the normal version of the list OR the digest version using the subscribe addresses for each list; NOT BOTH. If you wish to be subscribed to BOTH versions of the same list, please subscribe to one of the versions (normal or digest) and then contact 4d-admin@4dnug.com to be manually subscribed to the remaining version (digest or normal).

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Unsubscribing

Email your unsubscribe request to one of the following unsubscribe accounts for automated processing by the LetterRip list server. Leave the body of the message blank.

If you are subscribed to BOTH versions (normal and digest) of the same list, the first unsubscribe request will remove you from the normal version of the list and the subsequent unsubscribe command will remove you from the digest version of the list.

• To unsubscribe from EITHER the 4D Tech Mailing List OR the 4D Tech Digest, send email:
  

  To: 4d-tech-off@lists.4dnug.com

  
  
• To unsubscribe from EITHER the 4D Biz Mailing List OR the 4D Biz Digest, send email:
  

  To: 4d-biz-off@lists.4dnug.com

  
  
• To unsubscribe from EITHER the 4D Pub Mailing List OR the 4D Pub Digest, send email:
  

  To: 4d-pub-off@lists.4dnug.com

The list server is very particular about the address in your FROM mail header (or the REPLY-TO) matching the address you originally subscribed under EXACTLY in order to process your unsubscribe request automatically. For example, kalena@kalena.com and karen_sabog@kalena.com which both point to the same account are considered two different addresses by the list server. However, thanks to LetterRip's fuzzy domain logic, someone subscribed as kalena@ALOHA.kalena.com can still complete the unsubscribe process if just the subdomain part of their email address has changed to, e.g., kalena@HAWAII.kalena.com.

If you are having difficulty in unsubscribing or no longer have access to unsubscribe from your old or defunct email account, you need to email 4d-admin@4dnug.com with all the possible variations of your email address to look for so that it can be manually removed.

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Using a Local Redistribution List

If you are interested in using a local redistribution list (aka mail exploder) such as 4d-gurus@your_company.com, then have the list owner submit a subscribe request from the redistribution list account. If you need assistance in subscribing or unsubscribing a local redistribution list, then email 4d-admin@4dnug.com along with the name of the list owner to manually process your request.

If you are RECEIVING messages via a local redistribution list AND you wish to POST a message, you have the following options:

• Subscribe your individual email address instead (or temporarily subscribe and then unsubscribe after posting to avoid duplicate messages).
  
  
• Use the Reply-To mail header with the address of your local redistribution list so that your post will be accepted.
  

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Changing Your Subscribed Email Address

To switch email addresses, send two email messages:

1. one message from your NEW account to subscribe
2. another message from your OLD account to unsubscribe

Please see the sections above on subscribing and unsubscribing for further details.

DO NOT ask me to modify your email address manually. It is to your benefit to go through the subscribe process so that you can unsubscribe successfully in the future via the unsubscribe request accounts for automated processing.

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Posting Messages

Once you have received confirmation of your subscription, send email as follows to ONLY ONE of the appropriate lists. DO NOT CROSSPOST YOUR MESSAGES!!!

• To: 4D Tech Mailing List <4d-tech@lists.4dnug.com>
  Subject: Insert_Brief_Meaningful_Subject_Here
  
  
• To: 4D Biz Mailing List <4d-biz@lists.4dnug.com>
  Subject: Insert_Brief_Meaningful_Subject_Here
  
  
• To: 4D Pub Mailing List <4d-pub@lists.4dnug.com>
  Subject: Insert_Brief_Meaningful_Subject_Here
  

Your email address MUST MATCH a subscriber on either the list or digest version EXACTLY in order to successfully POST a message. For example, kalena@kalena.com and karen_sabog@kalena.com which both point to the same account are considered two different addresses by the list server. If you are receiving messages via a mail exploder such as 4d-gurus@your_company.com, see the section "Using a Local Redistribution List" for posting options.

NOTE: Particularly for digest subscribers, please remember to edit the SUBJECT line for your replies with the pertinent subject thread so that replies are NOT, e.g., "Re: 4D Tech Digest"; otherwise, your message will not be processed.

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*** 4D Mailing List Rules -- REQUIRED READING!!! ***

• Practice NETIQUETTE -- that's network etiquette -- especially your mailing list manners.
  
  
• This is *NOT* an anonymous list. Your REAL FULL NAME should be displayed along with your email address in the FROM mail header of your posts (preferably) or at least signed in the body of the message. If you are using proprietary software (e.g., AOL) which does not have this feature or have a mail admin who is unable to configure your mail server (e.g., Lotus Notes) with your name attached to your email address, then sign your real name in the body of the message.
  
  
• Please reserve the use of the REPLY-TO mail header ONLY if your address is DIFFERENT from that displayed in the FROM mail header. Also, the REPLY-TO mail header is generated AS IS (in some email clients), so you will need to manually enter BOTH your real name and address when configuring this field in your email preferences, e.g.,
  
  

  REPLY-TO: Karen Sabog <kalena@kalena.com>
  

  
  
  
• Please make sure that your email date and time are GLOBALLY-CORRECT so that your messages will display, sort, and thread in chronological order no matter what time zone your fellow subscribers retrieve mail in. SEND YOURSELF A TEST MESSAGE and check if the DATE mail header in your messages is appending the appropriate GMT or UTC offset, e.g., "-0700" or "PDT" for Pacific Daylight Savings Time. Remember to FIRST set the time zone and daylight savings settings, THEN set/recheck the date and time (ESPECIALLY if you have just changed either the time zone and/or daylight savings settings). Mac users can adjust this via the Date & Time and/or Map control panels; Windows users can edit the Date/Time control panel, TZ environment variable, or time zone setting in some email packages. Please verify your date/time settings periodically especially when daylight savings goes in and out of effect, when you install system software, or if you zap your Mac's PRAM. Search the Web for client software that can synchronize to an NTP (network time protocol) server such as time.nist.gov. Related time zone links include:
  
  http://www.time.gov
  http://www.worldtimezone.com
  http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/tzones.html
  http://www.bsdi.com/date
  
  
  
• Please make the SUBJECT line of your email concise and descriptive, e.g., "4D WhizBang Product 4.0 Shipping" rather than just stating "New Product" or something emotional like "I'm going nuts!"
  
  
• When posting a reply to a message, only include the RELEVANT TEXT needed for your answer to make sense. Do not forward the entire original message. Remove any extraneous mail headers (e.g., X-Sender, Received, Mime-Version, Content-Type, Precedence), the original author's signature, and the 4D NUG footer which is automatically appended to every message.
  
  
• Digest subscribers should reply to individual messages in the digest as separate posts rather than a batch of replies in one post.
  
  
• If replying to an individual message in the digest version, please edit the SUBJECT line of your email to reflect the message you are actually replying to (preceded by "Re: ") so that the thread can be followed.
  
  
• When composing email (this includes your mail headers and signatures), please make sure that you are using only the 7-bit US-ASCII character set. The US-ASCII character set means just character codes 0-127 (decimal), i.e., no characters like bullets, curly quotes, em and en dashes, non-breaking spaces, and characters with diacritical marks. This will ensure that all recipients on this international mailing list will see your message as intended rather than having some of the mailers spewing out strange character sequences. Eudora users can do this by disabling quoted-printable encoding. Also, mail systems not capable of receiving 8-bit characters will cause messages to bounce back to the list admin.
  
  
• Keep each line of your message to about 70 characters per line (use a monospace font with hard returns) to avoid splitting into two lines on some mailers and also to avoid splitting if used in a reply. This is especially a good idea if creating any tables so that the columns line up.
  
  
• Please keep your signature short -- the end portion of your email where you might contribute your name, phone number, address, ASCII art, favorite quote, philosophy, etc. Short here means 5 to 6 lines max including white space! Indicate your Web site if you have one for more information. Anyone with a long signature risks being automatically unsubscribed. This is a mailing list; not your personal vehicle for self-promotion.
  
  
• DO NOT send auto-reply messages like those used when you are away on vacation or out of the office. I suggest that you temporarily unsubscribe from the list, then resubscribe upon your return.
  
  
• DO NOT send HTML-formatted messages or styled (aka enriched) text messages. Make sure to send your messages in PLAIN TEXT; otherwise, digest subscribers will see a lot of gobbledy-gook that can be difficult to read.
  
  
• This is an International English-speaking mailing list. Please post your messages in ENGLISH or provide an ENGLISH TRANSLATION.
  
  
• DO NOT crosspost your messages to more than one 4D NUG mailing list.
  
  
• DO NOT send test messages to the list. You should contact 4d-admin@4dnug.com for assistance or send a message to the list you are subscribed to with the email command "help" (without the quotes) in the subject line so that you will receive an auto response from the list server instead of adding noise to the list.
  
  
• Any off-topic posts should be prefaced with "[OFF]" or "[OFF TOPIC]" in the SUBJECT line. These posts should be kept to a minimum.
  
  
• All messages, especially those with differing views and opinions, should be written in a constructive manner that is conducive for discussion. NO FLAMES!!!
  
  
• Practice NETIQUETTE...mentioned again to reinforce this important point.
  

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Reasons for Bounced Email

Receiving bounced email messages is inevitable on the Internet and can happen for some of the following reasons: system or network down, name server timeout, mailbox full (some users DO have mail and/or disk quotas), mail loops, user unknown, host unknown, server configuration problems, too many hops, ISP running anti-spam software, etc. Sometimes the error messages may not adequately explain the problem, be diagnosed incorrectly, or even be obscure. The majority of these problems are temporary and in most cases you will probably just want to go ahead and delete these messages (at your discretion, of course!).

As the admin for this high-traffic mailing list, I usually get hundreds of bounced messages almost every day since there is always some sort of burp occurring on the Internet or a server is down, even if only temporarily. I usually try to wait a few days to monitor if the problem resolves itself but may unsubscribe the offending email address sooner.

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Reasons to be Automatically Unsubscribed

I will automatically unsubscribe users for the following reasons (not an exhaustive list):

• Generating numerous bounced email
  
  
• Including the full digest version in replies
  
  
• Using auto-reply messages such as on vacation or out of the office
  
  
• Not complying with the list rules and/or the list administrator's request(s)
  
  
• Posting too many off-topic messages
  
  
• Offensive and/or inappropriate language
  
  
• Lengthy signature
  
  
• Posting test messages to the list. You should contact 4d-admin@4dnug.com for assistance or send a message to the list you are subscribed to with the email command "help" (without the quotes) in the subject line so that you will receive an auto response from the list server instead of adding noise to the list.
  

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Why am I getting duplicate email?

If you are subscribed to the list and your email address is also listed as a recipient in the TO, CC, or BCC fields for a particular message, then you may receive duplicate messages.

You may also receive bounced email messages that appear to be duplicates as a result of posting a message to the list. Look at the mail headers first before becoming alarmed about getting any duplicates. In some instances, some of you were subscribed under more than one address.

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Why am I NOT getting any email?

Here are the most common reasons:

• Your email is bouncing; however, your address is still subscribed to the list. You can always try resubscribing to test if your are still subscribed to the list. The list server will not subscribe your address again if it is already in the subscriber database.
  
  
• Your email address has been removed by the list admin.
  
  
• The list server is down or unreachable. You can ping or perform a traceroute to lists.4dnug.com to see if it is alive and/or send an email command such as "help" to requests@lists.4dnug.com to test if the list server is processing messages. DO NOT SEND TEST MESSAGES TO THE LIST!!!
  

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4D NUG Web Server

The 4D NUG Web Server contains information on 4D-related resources, user groups, vendors, and the 4D Mailing List FAQ. It is available at:

• http://www.4dnug.com/
  

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Third Party 4D NUG Message Archives and Utilities

Netizens in the 4D and Internet communities have graciously archived the individual messages generated from the 4D Mailing List and created the following resources with features such as keyword searching and threading:

• http://www.pdm-inc.com/mky.htm -- Monkeywerks -- Web-based search engine of the 4D Tech Mailing List and 4D Biz Mailing List maintained by John Beaulieu of Pacific Data Management, Inc.
  
  
• http://www.intellexcorp.com/intellex/4DMessages/Index.html -- 4D Message Summary -- Threaded Web version of the 4D Tech Mailing List maintained by Randy Kaempen of Intellex Corporation.
  
  
• http://www.hawks.demon.co.uk/matthew/4dstuff.html -- 4D Digest Reader -- Searchable 4D database that processes 4D Digest files. This program is sweetware by Matthew Whyte.
  

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Copyright Policies

All content generated by the 4D Tech Mailing List, 4D Biz Mailing List, and 4D Pub Mailing List (normal and digest versions) are subject to the following copyright policies:

1. The original author retains copyright.
   
   
2. Permission to redistribute must be granted. All approved resources are listed in the "Third Party 4D Message Archives" section of the 4D Mailing List FAQ.
   
   
3. Commercial redistribution "for profit" is prohibited.
   

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Feedback

Please feel free to send me your feedback and suggestions regarding 4D-related Internet resources available to the 4D community.

Karen R Sabog <kalena@kalena.com>
Admin and Founder
4th Dimension Networked Users Group (4D NUG)

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Updated 16 October 2002 by kalena@kalena.com.
Copyright © 1996-2002 by Karen R Sabog. All rights reserved.

http://www.kalena.com/4dnug/4d_mailing_list_faq.html