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Is there software for Linux that I can use to do $somethinguseful? There is on Windows.
More than likely, yes. Ken Guest has written a list of alternatives to Windows software that should give you some very good pointers.
And if that doesn't help? Don't forget to google and let Ken know what you've found so he can update the list.

Why don't you set the reply-to header to the list address instead of the sender's address?
This has been discussed inumerable times on list. There are a number of reasons for leaving the reply-to address as it is. They are:

1. It decreases the likelihood that people will mistakenly send personal mails to the entire list. It's easy to resend a message to the list when you accidentally send it to only one person. Unsending a personal mail that you've accidentally sent to the whole list however is a bit more tricky...
2. It's generally considered to be a Bad Thing^TM. See http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html for details.
3. A decent mailer should allow you to reply to the list or the sender. If yours doesn't then change it.
4. The list maintainer wants it that way. When you run your own mailing list you can set the reply-to headers to be whatever you want.

Some spam was sent to the list the other day. Why don't we make it so that only members can post to avoid this in future?
Being the nerdy bunch that we are, a lot of us have more than one e-mail address. I don't want my ilug mail delivered to my work e-mail account, but I sometimes need to post a message from my work mail. This appears to be the case for a lot of iluggers, and so it has been decided that we're leaving it as it is.

It's quite possible that this'll change in the future though, if spam levels on the list increase.

This policy was cast in stone at the 2004 AGM where a proposal to close the list to posting by non-members was heavily defeated with only two or three members in favour of the motion.

As of May 2005, the ILUG mailing list gets approx one in every 2000 spam submitted, as such the list can be considered 99% spam-free.

What is top posting?
This question is best answered with the following excerpt:
A. Because it's contrary to the direction we normally read in.
Q. Why is top-posting so bad, then?
A. Top-posting.
Q. What's the biggest problem with readability on the Net?

How do I turn off top-posting in Outlook?
For Outlook, you'll need to install Outlook-QuoteFix. If you are forced into using Outlook Express then install OE-QuoteFix.

Why don't you have information on $whatever on your website?
Because nobody's written anything on it. The website is maintained by volunteers so if you want to see something on it, don't complain about it to other people, just go ahead and write it yourself.

OK then, there's something I'd like to write for your website, is there anything I should know before I start?
There are some pointers and guidelines covered in this message which was posted by a member of the website team. It would be an idea for you to read it before putting pen to paper.
When you do get around to sending in your piece, you really should use the "Contribute to the Site" page rather than mailing it to some specific person, this way you won't be left waiting as that person you mailed it to might be on a break.

There's a lot of mails about $blah on the list at the moment. Should we make a new list devoted to this topic?
In general, no. This has come up a few times about different subjects but the majority usually decide that it's not worth it. Occasionally a thread will appear and not everyone on the list will be interested in it. It has been suggested that these topics should get their own mailing list thus keeping the mails off the main list. The problem with this is that the new list tends to be very busy for a week or two, then dry up as people get bored of the topic. This is roughly what happened with the ilug-constitution list and eventually it was decided to bring the constitution discussion back onto the main list.

If, however, an off-topic thread starts to get out of hand it may be worth setting up a new list. This has been done a couple of times where a thread is definitely off-topic for the ilug list, but a lot of people are interested in it anyway.

In short, we'd prefer to split the list as little as possible, but if necessary it can be done...

I've just installed linux and it didn't pick up my modem. What did I do wrong?
This isn't really an ilug related question, but it comes up so often on the list that I thought I should try to address it here.

The problem is more than likely that you have a software modem (commonly called a winmodem). These modems are missing certain chips which mean that tasks that were previously performed by the modem now have to be performed by software. These types of modem are cheap to make and therefore ubiquitous and of course, drivers are only available for windows.

linux drivers are currently under development, if you're lucky your modem may be one of the few for which something has already been released. For more information visit http://linmodems.org/.

Agh, all my ilug mail has suddenly stopped! Suffering withdrawal symptoms. Please help...
If your ilug mail suddenly stops being delivered and it's not a problem with your mail setup/internet connection, then it may be that your address has been disabled. This occurs after a certain number of mails bounce from your account.

If this happens you don't have to sign up again. Just go to the mailing lists page where you'll find a handy little form which will get you into your configuration page. Here you can re-enable your account and also change lots of other nifty little options. You'll need your ilug mailing list passwords for this. These are sent to you once a month, or if you forget them you can get them mailed to you from the this screen (see below for more info).

I want to change some of my mailing list membership options, but I've forgotten my password.
Go to the mailing lists page and type in your mail address on the form at the end of the page. This will bring you to your configuration page where you can request to have your password mailed to you.

Alternatively you can hang on 'till they're mailed out automatically to you. This happens once a month.

This mailing list sucks. I want to unsubscribe.
Once again, this can be done online at the mailing lists page. Please don't send unsubscribe mails to the lists. If you do we'll laugh at you, both for wanting to unsubscribe in the first place, and 'cos you didn't rtfm.

By Kathryn Cassidy.
Updated by the website minions.

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