Good question..... your not alone....

Andrew Grebneff wrote:

> Why am I getting these?
>
>> Mon, 18 Oct 2004 00:59:31
>>
>> Your message  to vanagon-request@GERRY.VANAGON.COM has been
>> forwarded to
>> the "list owners" (the people who manage the vanagon list). If you
>> wanted
>> to reach a human being, you used the correct procedure and you can
>> ignore
>> the remainder of this  message. If you were trying to  send a command
>> for
>> the computer to execute, please read on.
>>
>> The  vanagon list  is managed  by  a ListServ  server. ListServ
>> commands
>> should    always    be   sent    to    the    "ListServ"
>> address,    ie
>> LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM. ListServ never tries to process messages
>> sent
>> to the vanagon-request address; it simply forwards them to a human
>> being,
>> and acknowledges receipt with the present message.
>>
>> The "listname-request" convention originated on  the Internet a long
>> time
>> ago. At  the time, lists were  always managed manually, and  this
>> address
>> was defined as an alias for the  person(s) in charge of the mailing
>> list.
>> You would write to the  "listname-request" address to ask for
>> information
>> about the list, ask  to be added to the list,  make suggestions about
>> the
>> contents and policy, etc. Because this  address was always a human
>> being,
>> people  knew and  expected to  be  talking to  a  human being,  not
>> to  a
>> computer.  Unfortunately, some  recent  list  management packages
>> screen
>> incoming  messages  to  the  "listname-request" address  and
>> attempt  to
>> determine whether they are requests to  join or leave the list. They
>> look
>> for words such as "subscribe", "add",  "leave", "off", and so on. If
>> they
>> decide your message is  a request to join or leave  the list, they
>> update
>> the list automatically;  otherwise, they forward the message  to the
>> list
>> owners. Naturally, this means that if  you write to the list owners
>> about
>> someone else's  unsuccessful attempts to  leave the list, you  stand
>> good
>> chances of  being automatically removed  from the list, whereas  the
>> list
>> owners will never receive your message. No one really benefits from
>> this.
>> There is no  reliable mechanism to contact a human  being for
>> assistance,
>> and you can never  be sure whether your request will  be interpreted
>> as a
>> command or as a message to the list owners. This is why ListServ uses
>> two
>> separate addresses, one for the people in  charge of the list and one
>> for
>> the computer  that runs it.  This way you  always know what  will
>> happen,
>> especially if you are writing in a language other than English.
>>
>> In  any case,  if your  message was  a ListServ  command, you  should
>> now
>> resend it  to LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM. The  list owners know  that
>> you
>> have  received this  message  and may  assume that  you  will resend
>> the
>> command  on your  own. You  will find  instructions for  the most
>> common
>> administrative requests below.
>>
>> +---------------------+
>> |  TO LEAVE THE LIST  |
>> +---------------------+
>>
>> Write to LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM and, in the text of your message
>> (not
>> the subject line), write: SIGNOFF vanagon
>>
>> +--------------------+
>> |  TO JOIN THE LIST  |
>> +--------------------+
>>
>> Write to LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM and, in the text of your message
>> (not
>> the subject line), write: SUBSCRIBE vanagon
>>
>> +------------------------+
>> |  FOR MORE INFORMATION  |
>> +------------------------+
>>
>> Write to LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM and, in the text of your message
>> (not
>> the subject  line), write:  "HELP" or "INFO"  (without the  quotes).
>> HELP
>> will give you a  short help message and INFO a list  of the documents
>> you
>> can order.
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