Sunspots (comp.sys.sun) Intro Message

[Bob Greene]

This is an introductory message that will now be mailed to all new
subscribers to Sunspots. I would appreciate any feedback that current
readers have on this. 

Thanks

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Welcome to the Sunspots mailing list. As of this point in time,
your subscription request has been accepted and you are now
a full fledged member. This message provides information which
may be of use in the future, so please take a few moments to
review it.

o What is Sunspots?
  Sunspots is a electronic forum for exchanging information about
  the systems made by Sun Microsystems. In particular, information
  about the Hardware, Software, Operating System (SunOS), Windowing
  Systems, Networking Issues, Source Code, and other Miscellaneous
  Topics are open for discussion on this forum. Discussions take
  the form of electronic messages submitted by readers around the 
  world. These are compiled into digests by topic and sent out as
  volume merits (generally 7-10 times per week).

o How does the Sunspots digest relate to the Usenet group 'comp.sys.sun'?
  The Usenet group comp.sys.sun is a reflection of the articles
  in Sunspots. Each medium has it's advantages. The Usenet group boasts
  a much more rapid turnaround (approximately 24 hours from submission
  to posting) but lacks much of the structure of the Digest. The Digest
  on the other hand, is more structured with it's breakdown by topic
  area. Technically speaking, the Digest also serves those sites which
  are unable to receive Usenet news. The Digest is available on
  BITNET, Internet, and over the UUCP network via normal mail routes.

o How do I submit to Sunspots?
  The procedure to submit to Sunspots is relatively simple. If you are
  reading the Usenet group comp.sys.sun, your news system should take
  care of routing your submission, and you can submit to Sunspots 
  (comp.sys.sun) simply by using the normal post routines. If you are
  a Digest reader, you may simply mail your submission to the address
  'sun-spots at rice.edu' (Note that Usenet news readers may use this
  address to submit to comp.sys.sun also).

o What address should be used for administrative affairs?
  If you need to discuss an administrative issue with the Moderator
  such as editorial policies and additions/deletions from the subscription
  list, you should mail your request to the address 
  'sun-spots-request at rice.edu'. If the issue demands an immediate
  response, the moderator can also be emailed to directly at either
  'spots at rice.edu' or 'rgreeneb at ricevm1.rice.edu'.

o What are the Sunspots archives?
  The Sunspots archives are a set of FTP-able archives that are stored
  on titan.rice.edu (128.42.1.30). These include the back issues of
  the Digest (thru v5), any source submitted to the Digest, icons 
  submitted to the Digest and Sparc soundfiles submitted to the Digest.
  All of these may be retrieved by using standard anonymous FTP commands.
  Additionally, any file archived may also be retrieved from sites
  which do not have anonymous FTP capability by using the Rice archive
  server. In order to get more detailed information on the use of the
  archive server, send the single word message "HELP" to the address
  'archive-server at rice.edu'.

o Is there a commonly asked questions file for Sunspots?
  Not yet - however, this is being compiled and will be ready soon.

o Sometimes when I submit articles to Sunspots, they are rejected
o for submission, but no explanation is sent - why is this?
  Due to the huge volume of submissions to Sunspots, sometimes articles
  are rejected without explanation - I will usuallly attempt to send
  a brief note explaining the reason however. For the sake of cutting
  back on inappropriate submissions - some of the things that will make
  an article be rejected are:

  * Articles so badly worded that the meaning of the original message
    is impossible to retrieve.
  * Articles that should be submitted to a more appropriate newsgroup.
  * Articles from manafacturers of a product attempting to solicit that
    product across the net.
  * Articles which duplicate questions or answers which have already
    been asked in this forum (especially recent questions). This means
    that sometimes multiple people will suggest the same answer to a 
    question - in this case, I post the one that seems to be the most
    informative, and if they are all equal the one that was submitted
    first.

o What do you mean by more appropriate newsgroup?
  Here are some of the commonly misposted types of articles:

  * Forsale ads: these should be directed to the Usenet group
    misc.forsale. 
  * Articles regarding the Sun-386i: these should be directed
    to the Sun-386i mailing list (sun-386i at rice.edu). Note that
    anything in this category submitted to Sunspots will be automatically
    resubmitted to the Sun-386i list.
  * General Unix Questions: these should be directed to the Usenet
    groups comp.unix.{wizards,novices,etc}.
  * Questions about other systems: these should be directed to either
    that system's mailing list (usually info-sysname) or to it's Usenet
    group (comp.sys.sys-name)

o What other sources of Sun related information exist?
  There are several:

  * Sun-386i Mailing List: This list covers issues related to the
    Sun-386i. Submissions to 'sun-386i at rice.edu' and subscription
    requests to 'sun-386i-request at rice.edu'.
  * Sun-Managers Mailing List: This list covers issues of special
    interest to managers of sites using Sun workstations or 
    fileservers. Submissions to 'sun-managers at rice.edu' and subscription
    requests to 'sun-managers-request at rice.edu'.
  * Sun-Nets Mailing List: This list covers articles regarding networking
    Suns together (both with themselves and other machine types). 
    Submissions to 'sun-nets at brillig.umd.edu' and subscription requests
    to 'sun-nets-request@

Again, thank you for your interest in and contributions to the Sunspots
Digest. If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to contact me.

Bob Greene                    RGREENEB at RICEVM1.RICE.EDU
Sunspots (comp.sys.sun)       RGREENEB at RICEVM1.BITNET
  Moderator                   ...!rice!ricevm1!rgreeneb


Sunspots Submissions:   sun-spots at rice.edu
Sunspots Subscriptions: sun-spots-request at rice.edu
Sunspots Moderator:     spots at rice.edu <or> rgreeneb at ricevm1.rice.edu