ANGENMAP Discussion Group
Frequently Asked Questions
List of Contents
- What is ANGENMAP?
- When did ANGENMAP start and how does it work?
- Why the name "ANGENMAP"?
- What is listserv and how may I use it?
- Who can post to the ANGENMAP listserv?
- How can I post to ANGENMAP list?
- What's the official lanuage on AnGenMap?
- I have multiple email boxes. I want to be able to send my posts from all of them but don't want to receive the list mails multiple times in every mailbox. Is that possible?
- Why the listserv does not allow attachment in the posting mails?
- Why the listserv does not allow font formatting in the posting mails?
- How can I disable the styled text (html) in my email software?
- Why my post to the list always gets returned, complaining that my mail contains "attachments" although I didn't use any attachment?
- I sent my post in plain text. But the mail body look screwy when distributed through the server, why?
- What is "plain text"? How to format my post to make it more effective?
- Are there alternatives that I can post to AnGenMap without going through all these hassles?
- I had a URL in my mail, and the URL got truncated, why?
- I subscribed to AnGenMap list and receive list mails alright. But when I try to post to the list, it complains that I am not a subscriber, why
- I receive AnGenMap list mails. But when I tried to logon the Member's Directory, it says my email address does not exist, why?
- How can I change my email address on AnGenMap list?
- I subscribed to AnGenMap in the traditional way (by email to the "angenmap-request"), can I switch to managing my subscriptions with the members Directory form?
What is ANGENMAP?
ANGENMAP is a mailing list designed to serve as a information sharing and discussion channel among researchers in the areas related but not limited to, animal gene mapping, genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. See the initial User Guide for more details.
When did ANGENMAP start and how does it work?
The ANGENMAP started off in 1993 with a listserv that sends group emails to members. There are two other components associated with it: a web site with user helps and mail archives, and an online member's directory, developed in 1997 and 1999 respectively.
Why the name "ANGENMAP"?
It is an acronym from An(imal) Gen(e) Map(ping), a term popular in the early-1990s on genome mapping activities in the animal breeding/genetics community. The name is preserved although the genome research has evolved much beyond "mapping".
What is "listserv" and how may I use it?
A listserv is a software that automates many mailing list operations, such as subscription, unsubscription, process a mail for distribution, retrieve a posted mail from its mail archive, etc. You can email to angenmap-request @ animalgenome.org with "help" as the "Subject" to feel more. It is an interactive server via emails. Follow instructions to email your requests - it always responds to you much faster than a human operator.
More details are described in the User Guide.
Who can post to the ANGENMAP listserv?
All who are currently subscribed to the list with a valid email address.
How can I post to ANGENMAP list?
You have to send your post to the list as an email. The posted mail has to come from your email box which is currently subscribed to the list.
What's the official lanuage on AnGenMap?
There has not been a set "official language" on AnGenMap. However, while you may post to AnGenMap in your mother tongue, English is preferred since it is a lanuage understood by the most members therefore you have a larger audiance to read your post.
I have multiple email boxes. I want to be able to send my posts from all of them but don't want to receive the list mails multiple times in every mailbox. Is that possible?
Surely it's possible. You can subscribe the email address you want to receive list mails (this will be called your "primary address"), and add all other addresses as "alternative addresses". This can be accomplished when you subscribe to the list through the AnGenMap Directory. These information is part of your Directory profile which you can update any time. Or, you can email the alternative addresses to the listmaster and we can add them for you as well (this may take longer depending on how busy we are).
Why the listserv does not allow attachment in the posting mails?
This is part of our efforts to eliminate malicious attachments that may be passed on to hundreds of users, as well as to accommodate most email reading software on the internet. The plain text mails are also easier for database archive/ searches.
If you DO have a need to forward a PDF file or a template in DOC or XLS file format, the preferred practice is to put the file on a web site, and cite the URL in your mail.
Why the listserv does not allow font formatting in the posting mails
This is called styled text or hyper text (html formatted) mail. HTML content is often sent as attachment in addition to a regular mail body. The attachment is the number one method of spreading copmuter virus and worms. On a mailing list, even one passage of cookies and other types of virus and worms in imbedded email post may produce a large bad effect. The duplicated email body also adds to the internet traffic bandwidth as well.
How can I disable the styled text in my email software?
Usually you can disable such behavior by changing its default settings as in the most popular email software:
Miscrosoft Outlook:
"Tools"
"Options"
"Mail Format"
"Send in this message format"
"Plain text"
Eudora:
"Tools"
"Options"
"Styled Text"
"Send plain text only"
If this does not solve the problem or your email software is not Outlook or Eudora, see "Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text" for more information. Or, you may need to consult your software manual for specifics.
Why my post to the list always gets returned, complaining that my mail contains "attachments" although I didn't use any attachment?
If you did not send attachment but the listserv complained so, it is most likely that your email software duplicated the mail body as HTML ("styled text", or "hyper text") and sent as "attachment" in addition to the normal plain text mail body.
Sometimes you may not realize but if you have a signature formatted in style which will be sent as attachment (.html or .doc)
See #11 for helps.
I sent my post in plain text. But the mail body look screwy when distributed through the listserv, why?
Traditional plain text format on a computer screen allows 80 characters per line. Lines longer than 80 characters may or may not be wrapped depending on the displaying software.
Your text editor may automatically wrap lines when you typed them (so you don't see "long line" problems), but internally they are long lines which will be sent to only partially show up on some other user's computer screen, if the user's text viewer does not implement a line-wrapper.
To solve the problem the listserv implemented a line wrapper to fold long lines to paragraphs for them to fit most computer screen. "Screwy" problem may occur when you see the post appear to be not in the way as you typed.
Follow tips in #14 to format a better mail body.
What is "plain text"? How to format my post to make it more effective?
Plain text (or "ascii" characters) is our old friend, usually monospaced, type-writer styled. See HOWTO Edit Messages for many useful hints. If you want to make your post writing more impressive and effective, please read How to Write Effective Mailing List Email and Mailing List Manners.
Briefly, if you wish to let your text appear in the format as you typed, these tips may be useful:
- Always separate paragraphs with an empty line
- Start a bullet-point line with a space, or any of these symbols (
o , or
- , or
= , or
+ , or
_ , or
* ) as in:
o Last day for online registration: July 28, 2008.
o The deadline for abstract will be March 5, 2008.
- Abstract must be in English
- Abstract must be within 250 words - Precede your signature block with a line that start with and contains only
two dashes ("--"), as in:
--
James Bond, PhD
Senior Scientist,
QTL Breeding Group,
Animal Kingdom Institute - You could also keep your paragraph to appear "as is" by leaving two (2) empty lines before it.
- Do not use underscore ("_") to form a decorative line, as that's often seen in commercial mail foot appendix which will be removed by the server.
Are there alternatives that I can post to AnGenMap without going through all these hassles?
We agree that the problems discussed in this FAQ #12, #13, #14 above can be complicated because it's often compounded by how your email software is configured and how they interact in the email delivery pipeline. To overcome this problem, we have developed a web-based post submitter for you to use web forms to submit your posting to the AnGenMap listserv. You will have to login as a member in order to use it.
I had a URL in my post, and the URL got truncated, why?
Sending long URL in email can be a problem not only on AnGenMap, but also in common email communications, where the "clickable URL" may be truncated, or some strange characters are inserted, or new-line breaks are forced, that causes your browser to display errors such as "not found". Often you can "recover" the URL by copy and paste to piece it back from multiple lines into the browser location box. Often this requires you manually change the altered characters back, for example, '=' for '%3D', '~' for '%7E', etc. See URL Encoding for more details.
Since this is a common problem for many, there is a convenient utility on the internet called TinyURL (http://tinyurl.com/) which can help you to alias a long URL into a very short one for you to send, and forward internet call for the alias to the real page location. You may like to try that out.
One phenomenon often seen is that, the post on the AnGenMap archive server is well intact while the copy in your mailbox is not. You can retrieve the copy from the archive server (see #4 above) or check the AnGenMap web site to find it from recent posts ( http://www.animalgenome.org/ community/mail/latest/; please note the archive is usually updated in 24-hour cycles).
I subscribed to AnGenMap list and receive list mails alright. But when I try to post to the list, it complains that I am not a subscriber, why?
It's most likely that you have different email address variants and the one your out-going mail bears may not be the same one you used to subscribe. For example, while both addresses
smroger@wisc.edu
smroger@vetpath.wisc.edu
can forward emails to the same mail box for you, however, your sendmail program uses only one of them in the "From:" header in your out-going mails, depending on how your email software is configured.In this case you may want to know which one is currently on the list, and add the alternative ones to the list so you can post from both addresses (see #8 above for more).
I receive AnGenMap list mails. But when I tried to logon the Member's Directory, it says my email address does not exist, why?
It is is most likely you subscribed to the listserv by emailing to the "angenmap-request" address, not through the Directory forms.
The Member's Directory is an add-on to the listserv, thus it is coupled, not integrated, with the AnGenMap listserv (it only provides an alternative interface to the listserv). In this case you may like to follow instructions provided in this #20, to register as a "new" user, and start to manage your listserv options with the user web form.
If you indeed registered with the Member's Directory before and are receiving list mails, it's most likely that you have different email address variants and the one you typed may not be exactly the same one currently on the list (see #17 above for more details).
How can I change my email address on AnGenMap list?
You can "change" your email address on the AnGenMap list by (1) sending an "unsubscribe" email to the listserv from your old address and (2) sending a "subscribe" email to the listserv from the new address (see this example if you forgot how to).
If you lost access to your old email account, you could email the listmaster for help (to unsubscribe it). Actually, in the event your old email account is terminated, the listserv will automatically remove it upon receiving certain number of bounces.
To change the list subscription email address through the member's Direcotry, you can login the form, do an "unsub" on your old address, and then change the "Primary email" in the form to the new one and do a "subscribe".
I subscribed to AnGenMap in the traditional way (by email to the "angenmap-request"), can I switch to managing my subscriptions with the members Directory form?
Yes. If you subscribed to the list by emailing the "subscribe" request to the listserv, not by using the web form, and want to use the Directory form to manage your subscriptions, you can do a signup on the web form using your old email address (pretent you never subscribed; when you will have done the subscription this way, you may receive an email saying you are already subscribed, but that's fine).
Draft by Zhiliang Hu
May 12-16, 2007
