On: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 14:03:00, James L. Swanson <[log in to unmask]>
stated, among other things:
 
> ...... now that my service
>provider has said they can't support the cost of the number of messages coming
>from Museum-L, I wish there were smaller lists that I could continue with.
 
James, Here is a suggestion that may help you to cut down the costs to your
provider, and still permit you to keep up with MUSEUM-L. It's less convenient
than simply being subscribed to receive MAIL, but under the circumstances, as
you said, some communication from MUSEUM-L is better than none.
 
First, if you _really_ mean that the _number_ of messages is what your
service provider is objecting to (pays by the message??), then you can
"set museum-l digest" and receive only one message daily (it'll be a big
one, containing _all_ of the text of the day's messages).
 
You probably meant to say that your service provider objects to the number
of _characters_ received daily; the digest won't help you very much there
(it does remove some of the mail header lines, but that won't have too much
impact on the overall size of the reduction).
 
In this case, you can do the following: "set museum-l index" and you will
receive one listing, daily, of all Item Numbers, Nos. of Lines, Senders, Dates
and Subject lines. You can then scan this list for items that pique your
interest and send email to LISTSERV requesting only those items. The cost
is the tradeoff of your added time relative to the reduced cost to your service
provider. Obviously, this method relies on people providing "useful" subject
lines.
 
To change your subscription to INDEX mode, send email to:
listserv at unmvma.bitnet
 
with a one-line message (no subject line), saying:
set museum-l index
 
I believe that the instructions on how to request specific article(s)
will be contained in the index you receive. If not, write me and I'll
send you more info.
Peter Rauch ([log in to unmask])
 
Here is a short sample of what an index looks like (from another list):
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Index Date  Size Poster and subject
----- ----  ---- ------------------
04755 10/26   13 From:    Adrian Palacios - Yale Biology <[log in to unmask]>
                 Subject: Peering LISTSERV BITNET <--> UNIX LISTSERVER
 
04756 10/26   24 From:    Winship <[log in to unmask]>
                 Subject: Filter & Add
 
04757 10/26    6 From:    Mark Westergaard <[log in to unmask]>
                 Subject: Microsoft Mail problems
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -