Email lists

The Society nowadays makes considerable use of email, both for members and also for sending announcements to anybody else who is interested in our activities and forthcoming concerts.

The various Society mailing lists are all run by automated software (called Majordomo), which frees us from what would otherwise be a considerable administrative load. The notes on this page are intended to explain how you can effectively manage your own subscription(s), by sending special email messages to Majordomo. However, if you have difficulty, please do contact the list manager at majordomo-owner@cam-phil.org.uk.

Joining a list (“subscribe”)

To join a list, you first need to send a blank email to the appropriate subscription address:

List name		Subscribe address
news	Public announcements	news-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk
chorus-members	Chorus members announcements	chorus-members-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk
orchestra-members	Orchestra members announcements	orchestra-members-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk
social	Unofficial announcements and discussion	social-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk

When you send your initial request, Majordomo will respond with a message containing a confirmation token: you must follow the instructions in that message, to verify that your email address is working and that it really was you who sent the request. In general, any request to Majordomo requires confirmation before it can succeed, and that confirmation is as simple as hitting reply and sending the one-word message “accept”.

You will then receive a message welcoming you to the list, and giving you a password. By quoting this password, it avoids you having to return a confirmation token in the future if you decide to leave or if you change your email address, so it is quite important (though not essential) for you to keep the welcome message.

If you need a reminder of your password later, send the one-line message

password-show

to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk.

Leaving a list (“unsubscribe”)

To leave a list, the process is almost identical: you need to send a blank email to the appropriate unsubscription address:

List name	Unsubscribe address
news	news-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk
chorus-members	chorus-members-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk
orchestra-members	orchestra-members-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk
social	social-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk

You will then need to return a confirmation token.

If you no longer have access to the account, then you will need to use a slightly different method, quoting the password you were given when you subscribed. Send the one-line message

approve PASSWORD unsubscribe LISTNAME <your old email address>

to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk (use your own password and the appropriate list name, of course). You can send this message from anywhere, provided you quote the email address you want to unsubscribe.

Changing your address

If you change your address, please either unsubscribe and then re-subscribe with your new address, or (better, especially if you have joined more than one list!) use the single-step “changeaddr” command. To do this, using your new address, send the one-line message

changeaddr <your old email address>

to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk. You must do this before your old email address is switched off, since you need to return a confirmation token from both the old and new accounts.

If you quote the password you were sent when you first joined by sending

approve PASSWORD changeaddr <your old email address>

the first confirmation isn’t needed, which means you don’t still need to have access to the old account, although you will need to confirm the new address.

Problems?

• If you don’t get a reply almost immediately to your request, or when you send in a confirmation token, then it may be that your email program has messed up the subject line or the reply address. In particular, addresses with the word “owner” in them are always wrong (they are intended for contacting the list manager, or for detecting bounced messages), but some email programs tend to choose these incorrectly when you hit reply. See also the next point.

• If you believe you have successfully subscribed, but you don’t then receive any messages when other people have done, or if you are not seeing any messages from Majordomo at all, then it may be due to an over-zealous “anti-spam” filter. If you or your email provider (ISP) run any kind of filter, you may have to tell it about the Society mailing list, otherwise any messages you receive may be rejected or consigned to the “junk” folder. Note that, in common with most other email lists, messages from us are sent with a variety of “one-time” sender addresses (a method known as “VERP”), so you may have particular difficulty if you have a filter which junks messages from anyone who is not in your address book – there is no one single address which you can add.

  There is unfortunately nothing we can do about this at our end, and if you cannot find a way to allow our messages through your junk filter then your only option may be to switch to a different ISP which has a different filtering policy. Please, however, let us know so that we can compile a list of “list-unfriendly” ISPs to warn other people!

  If you want to check that your subscription is OK, send the single word “show” in the body of a message to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk. A complete summary of everything Majordomo knows about you will be sent back straight away (so if that reply doesn’t arrive, you definitely need to check for a filter getting in the way!).

• If you are really stuck, you can contact the list manager at majordomo-owner@cam-phil.org.uk.