If I might be so bold as to pass on one more "Enjoy" tip from
Coyote in response to a question:  "Is there a way to mail a search
request [to Gerry] and get the results later?" Coyote responded:
Yes.  "See ftp://gerry.likeminds.com/pub/listserv/searching.txt for
an exhaustive description of how to use the article database."  This
way, with the leisure of overnight service, answers are returned.
malcolm s

Derek wrote:

> People sometimes ask about how others deal with the varying signal to
> noise ratio on the vanagon list.
>
> A happy relationship to the list is one in which the list can take up no
> more than 10 or 15 mins of your time *per month* if do not want it to take
> up more. It is also one in which you read almost no stupid posts. The
> material below should probably be extracted and stuck on Vanagon.com
> because many newbies (do we still use that word?) simply do not know these
> things, and as a result the Vanagon list appears to be a burden. It does
> not have to be one.
>
> Here are my Principals of Vanagon List Happiness:
>
> 1. DO NOT USE DIGEST MODE. People think that digest mode saves them work
> because it sticks messages in one big file that they can read. But digest
> mode actually creates additional work because the messages are not bunched
> by topic properly, and it is harder to scan them quickly all together.
>
> 2. MAKE A VANAGON MAILBOX. This means to use an email program such as
> Eudora that can recognize that a message is coming from the vanagon list
> and the program moves all your mail into this mailbox you create
> specifically for Vanagon mail. The beauty of a Vanagon mailbox is that you
> never know what is in it until you are in the mood to read Vanagon mail.
> The Vanagon list creates zero burden on your normal life.
>
> 3. READ YOUR MAIL INFREQUENTLY. Try not reading *any* vanagon mail for a
> week or two. You can even go a month! I think two weeks is the right
> number. This allows the messages to bunch up, and you can then arrange
> them by subject and delete all subjects that do not interest you. (see
> next message)
>
> 3. WHEN READING VANAGON MAIL ARRANGE POSTS BY SUBJECT. This is vitally
> important. In late versions of Eudora, such as versions 3 and 4, you look
> at all mail in the mailbox and you can click on the subject heading. This
> makes all the messages arrange themselves by subject. You can then select
> all 50 messages with the subject line, "List Vendors Suck" all at once,
> very fast. Hit the delete key. Then find all messages with the subject
> line "Horray For List Vendors" and hit the delete key. This process can
> take a very short time until you are left with only those messages in
> which you have a current interest. I personally read syncro-related posts
> and posts about the area between the transmission and the motor, as these
> subjects interest to me.
>
> 4. CREATE BOZO FILTERS. This means that if one particular list member
> annoys you with silly stuff, set your mail filters to send his email
> directly to the trash bin rather than to the Vanagon list email. You will
> never even know they existed. If one objected to list vendors, for
> example, one could send all their messages immedaitely to the trash. I do
> not do this myself, as I consider their participation helpful and
> appropriate. But the point is that it is easy to do.
>
> 5. DO NOT READ MESSAGES TO SCAN THEIR CONTENT. Many email programs like
> Eudora and Outlook allow you to view the content of each message as an
> aide to screening. I view this as a mistake. It is inefficient and
> intolerable for people like me with time pressures. It will take you a lot
> of time and you will begin to hate the list. Consider instead screening
> all your mail by subject heading only. This is the most efficient way to
> filter it. One other way to filter it is to decide what you are interested
> in, and then have the filters robot in your email program do the work for
> you. For example, if you own a diesel, for example, you could even set up
> a robot to pick up all messages with the word "diesel" in them and then
> put these mjessages into a special Vanagon List Diesel mailbox. That would
> become your preferred mailbox.
>
> 6. OPTIONAL: CONSIDER CREATING YOUR OWN VANAGON ARCHIVE. I have every post
> from the Vanagon list since its first day on my laptop. (That's right, I
> was on the very first day way back in 1994 and have been on every day
> since.) After messages go in the trash, my mail filter sweeps them away
> and puts them in a big mailbox named Vanagon Archive. If I wish, I can
> search this archive with the crude search functionality in Eudora, or use
> Alta Vista's hard drive search eingine to do sophisticated searches (get
> the search engine for free from Alta Vista). It does Alta Vista searches
> on your own hard drive!
>
> By the means I have discussed, I never even see messages saying "You
> people are losers" because I never select out their subject headings. I am
> only dimly aware of a recent increase in list traffic with high noise
> levels. I did notice deleting a lot of posts with silly headings but I
> would never have found out what they were saying until I noticed Tim Smith
> bowing out. Since it makes no sense for Tim Smith to bow out, I read his
> post and found that he was on digest. I would quit the list too if I were
> on digest, as this is a prehistoric and very onerous method of trying to
> be on this list. I suggest anybody on digest either get off digest and
> into a good email program as fast as they can, or get their head examined
> for why they would stay on the list and tolerate the difficulty of using a
> digest mode.
>
> ________________________________________________________
> Derek Drew                              New York, NY & Washington, DC
> drew@interport.net '90 Syncro Westfalia... ...seen off-road at
> http://www.tiu.net/~des/vw/drew/index.html
>
>         Also seen at: http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swrange.htm
>                      http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/snow.html
>                      http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swmassn.htm
>                      http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/Campers/Campers.html
>
>         Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are:
>                     http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
>                     ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/