CLAN-ABERCROMBY-L Archives

From: "Lauren Boyd" <>
Subject: ADMIN NOTE OF MAJOR IMPORTANCE: READ ME NOW, LIST IS GOING TOMIGRATE TO NEW SYSTEM
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 00:32:31 -0700

Dear Listers:

I appologize for making this a bit generic, however it is going out to
at least 70 clans lists. Please substitute the name of your clan
where I have left it as "clan-name".

You may or may not have received the message that Rootsweb sent out
Friday from List Announce. It apparently is taking quite some time to
generate to all the subscribers of all 30,000+ lists at Rootsweb.com

Some ISPs may also be blocking mail from the Lists9 Server due to the
sheer number of messages being distributed.

In order to continue to have mailing lists for us it was necessary to
make some changes. That is what the Announcement message was alerting
to. Rootsweb is changing, not upgrading their list software on their
computers. The old software, Smartlist, is no longer supported and was
held together with bailing wire and bubble gum. It became a situation
of change it now or no lists. So... we will accept the change to the
new software, mailman.

There is nothing you need to do... it is on their computers and will
not be needed on yours.

RootsWeb is preparing to migrate all mailing lists to a new and
updated list management system. I participated in the initial tests of
the new software. When the list has been migrated, there will be some
changes but most have to do with the list administration tools.

There is a message list that was created to support the migration....
It is NOT required that you subscribe to
it. And you may not want to.... in about a 24 hour period, there were
no less than 317 messages posted to it. It is confusing to most
"users". However, it is there so you can have your questions responded
to. I participated in the Beta Test and can respond to some of your
questions even if you do not subscribe to that list.

For list subscribers, the changeover should be smooth. However there
is one significant change you should be aware of. The new management
system treats both the digest ("-D") and regular delivery ("-L")
lists as a single list with two delivery options-digest or regular.
This means that the "-L" or "-D" is dropped from the list name within
the system so the list becomes Clan-Name (NO "L").

This sounds like a big change, but it actually won't affect the way
the list functions
that much.

Below is a list of the ways this change may affect you:


- You can choose to drop the "-L" or "-D" in the list email address when sending
messages to the list. That means messages sent to
will be sent directly to the list. Sending a
message to will also continue to work.

- You can use either or
to subscribe to the regular list
delivery. To subscribe to the list digest, continue to send your
"subscribe" email to .

Your current subscriptions will be migrated over so if you are
currently subscribed
to the digest, you will continue to be subscribed to the digest.

- (not many do this but as some do, I am including this...) You will
no longer be able
to receive both the digest and the regular delivery ("-L") versions of
the list at the same email address. If you are currently subscribed
to both "-L" and "-D" with the same address, you will only continue to
be subscribed to regular delivery when the list is migrated. You will
need to subscribe to the list digest with a different address.

- You can unsubscribe from the regular delivery or digest by sending
your "unsubscribe" message to a single email:
.

Other changes you might notice include:
- Changes to the layout, volume and issue numbers of the digests.
- New "welcome" and "goodbye" and other messages.
- New message footers.
- The "from" email will be different (no "-L") so some messages may be
sent to your
"junk" folder.

For those of you that filter your mail, if you need to adjust your
filters, the following have been suggested. Filter on either of these
fields, changing "listname" to the actual name of the list:

X-BeenThere:
List-Id: clan-name.rootsweb.com
X-Loop:


Please report anything unusual or confusing that you find during this
transition period
to me at . If you do not find mail in your
mailbox over the next couple of weeks... check the archives. As
mentioned in the beginning, there may be some issues with ISPs while
the migration of ALL 30,000+ lists occurs.

It may be necessary for you to resubscribe. I will not be aware of any
"issues" until your address bounces off the list. And from what I have
observed so far, I will not be able to pinpoint why it may have.
Digest subscribers -- I expect that I will hear from some of you as
the way you receive your digest may appear differently.... I have a
fix for it.... just email me.

The Clan lists will be among the first to migrate to the new system.
There should
be no interruption in the flow of your mail. You may not even notice
the change when it occurs. I will be notified in the same manner that
Admins are notified of receipt of a newly established list and will
need to rebuild our Welcome Message, etc.

Eventually, there will be a website you can go to to more proactively
manage your
mail and even have the option to turn mail off when you go on vacation
rather than
unsubscribe! The drawback is that you will have to remember to turn it back on!

I am pasting in the migration schedule and the link to it.
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/migrate_sched.html
Bear it mind, that as with all things, it is a PLAN... and subject to change.

Keep an eye on the Help Desk page to see if there are any notices that
may affect your experience in the next few weeks.

Post away! Don't be shy! We need the mail to be generated to ensure
all is going as planned.

I will post a message after the lists migrate. If you do not receive
it, but see it in the
archives, first check your spam folders and second, resubscribe if you
still do not find it. The subscription lists are expected to migrate
without incident, but anything is possible when done on this large a
scale.

AOL users, you will need to mark any messages found in the spam
folders as "this is not spam" in order to retrain AOLs servers.

Yours Aye,

Lauren
Lauren M. Boyd, FSA Scot
Various Clan Lists Admin

This thread:

• ADMIN NOTE OF MAJOR IMPORTANCE: READ ME NOW, LIST IS GOING TOMIGRATE TO NEW SYSTEM by "Lauren Boyd" <>