Email List
The Old Bus Owners' Discussion Group is an Email List, or Email
Discussion Group. Contributors send an email to a special address, from where
it is automatically distributed to everybody that has joined the List.
Although specifically intended for owners of older British buses,
anybody with an interest in these vehicles is welcome to subscribe.
There is quite a lot of information on this page about the use of
this Email List - you may wish to print the page out for reference.
How do I join?
You join the List by sending an email to oldbuses-request@sftt.co.uk
with the word join in the body. You will receive a response which will
require a confirmation - just follow the instructions.
The confirmation will request a reply in the form of
activate you@youraddress.co.uk 12356. The easiest way to do
so is to cut out all the other text and quotation symbols from your reply to
this request.
How much does it cost to join?
Nothing - its free. The service is sponsored by
Studio433.
How do I send a message?
Simply address your email to oldbuses@sftt.co.uk and it
will be distributed to all. Your message will not be accepted unless you have
gone through the join process.
How many messages per day will I
receive?
In general, this is a quiet group. Some days there may be two or
three, on others there may be none.
Do I have to receive every message?
Yes, but you can choose to be sent a daily summary rather than
individual messages. You need to send the command digest true to
activate this option.
Please see the Advanced Options section
for more details.
How many people are there on the List?
Again, it varies, but there are usually around 50. A proportion do not
participate in the chat but just read the messages, which is their choice
of course.
What subjects can be discussed?
Absolutely anything relating to old buses. If you have other things to
share with specific members of the group, please do so by private email
- not everybody would like to read them.
It is prohibitied to use this service to promote petitions and commercial
activities.
Can I send a message in HTML?
You can, if you wish, but plain text messages are generally
preferred on news groups and email lists.
HTML email is "styled" text, allowing italics, underlining and
other features.
In the early days of the Internet, the sending of email messages
in any form other than plain text was heavily frowned upon owing to the
additional on-line time consumed downloading the larger messages.
However, times have changed, and with faster connection speeds the
difference in download time is rarely noticeable. Much modern software sends
HTML email by default too.
Nevertheless, you should bear in mind that some users' email
software is unable to read HTML mail. You should choose the option in your
software to "Send both plain and styled text" (or something similar) to ensure
all members can read your messages.
What if somebody insults me?
Again, please confine arguments and "flame wars" to private email.
Persistent offenders will be removed from the List.
Can I send pictures to the List?
No. Not everybody wants to receive them as they can occupy on-line
time and run up telephone bills. There is a size limit on message sizes to
prevent large images being sent, but smaller ones can get through. Offenders
will find themselves removed from the List.
Can I join the list twice so I can receive
messages at home and at work?
Certainly. You can join under as many email addresses as you wish,
but if you try and join twice under the same address, you will receive a
response telling you so.
How do I leave the List?
Simply send an email to oldbuses-request@sftt.co.uk
with just the word leave in the body.
My messages keep being returned, with the
comment that I am not a member of the List
Either you have not joined the list, or you are sending them from
an email address different to the one you signed up with.
I have changed my email address
If you have changed email address you will need to leave the group
under your old address and rejoin under your new one. If your leaving message
is rejected because you are sending from your new address, add the old email
address after the leave command:
leave emailaddress
I can't join/leave
If you have followed the instructions above, without success,
please contact John Hinson.
There are a number of advanced features of this Email List which
may be of interest. These are available by sending commands by email. All
commands must be sent to oldbuses-request@sftt.co.uk
and not to the List itself. If you send them to the List in error, you will
look very silly!
The command should always be the only content in the body of the
email. The subject line can be left blank. Some commands may not work if sent
as HTML, or if other text is included in the body of the email.
For completeness, all commands are listed here - including those
covered in the Frequently Asked Questions above.
This allows you to receive a daily summary (digest) of messages
sent to the List, rather than receive individual messages. The syntax requires
the word true or false to be added.
digest true will activate the digest and send it to you
daily.
digest false will discontinue the sending of the digest to
you, instead sending the messages individually.
Use the dir command to get a list of files available for
retrieval.
At present there are unlikely to be any files available for
this List.
The command index serves the same purpose.
Use the command enumerate to receive a listing of all
members of the List.
This command has been disabled to ensure members' privacy is
respected.
The commands review and who serve the same
purpose.
Use this to request a file from the server to be sent to you as an
email attachment. The command takes the form get filename.
Before you do this, you will need to obtain a list of available files with
dir or index.
Use help to receive detailed instructions on the use of
this List by email.
See dir.
Use join to add your email address to the List, so that
you can send and receive messages.
The commands sub and subscribe serve the same
purpose.
Use leave to remove your email address from the List, so
that you stop receiving messages.
Use the syntax leave oldemailaddress if your email
address has changed.
The commands remove, signoff, unsub and
unsubscribe serve the same purpose.
Use lists to get a listing of all Email Lists on the
server. You may wish to join other similar lists. However, some private lists
may be configured to reject automatic signup.
See leave.
See enumerate.
See get.
See leave.
See join.
See join.
See leave.
See leave.
See enumerate.
This is a fully automated service run using proprietary software
and as such should present no difficulties. No promises or guarantees can be
made about its reliability. However, experience so far suggests it is far
faster and more reliable than the free advert-sponsored services available.
However, if you do have a problem, you may contact
John Hinson for help.
Known bugs
- If a message is sent as Styled Text (HTML), the footer
detailing the unsubscribe instructions are omitted.
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