Igbo--net was configured along the lines of the basic tenets of traditional Igbo philosophy of equalitarianism and individual initiative in all human activities, as enshrined in this simple dictum:
"Igbo amaghi Eze" (The Igbos know no king!).
Every igbo--netter can configure his/her mail options according to his/her individual needs. To accomplish these tasks, all one needs to do is: Send a mail message to the listprocessor at this address:
listproc@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu
In the body of your mail, you can write any one of the following requests (vide infra). Nothing should be written on the subject line of your header. Make one request to the listprocessor at a time. The procedure is exactly like the one you followed when you subscribed to igbo--net.
Remember, the listprocessor identifies you by the e-mail address with which you subscribed to igbo--net originally. Should you send in a request to the listprocessor from a different e-mail address, your request will not be processed! The listprocessor is quite very unforgiving, especially in this regard.
It must be categorically stated that the listprocessor will automatically reset the mail options of any subscriber, or remove any subscriber's defective e-mail address from the system, once it encounters any problem in delivering mail(s) to the address in question. These features were added in order to eliminate the problem of bounced mails that defective machines are wont to cause. Valuable disk space should not be spent on storing bounced mails from defective subscribers' machines! It is therefore imperative that once you experience a problem of not receiving mails from the list, all you have to do is just resubscribe yourself. If your mail options are reset by the listprocessor, and if you try to resubscribe, the system will inform you that you are already subscribed. In that case, all you will have to do is check the settings of your mail options (vide infra) and reset them accordingly. The only condition in which I will manually unsubscribe anyone is if that person willfully contravenes the netiquette of the list -- as clearly outlined in the policies of igbo--net. I have no interest in removing anyone from the list or excluding anyone from joining the list. However, I have no qualms about removing anyone who willfully contravenes the netiquette of the list.
Also, let me recommend that if you do not have enough disk space in your system, before traveling out of town, it will be good for you to unsubscribe yourself from igbo--net, and resubscribe when you get back. Since all igbo--net transactions are archived, you can retrieve all the mails that were distributed during your absence, using the commands listed below.
Good luck as you interact with the listprocessor.
Below is a brief description of the set of requests recognized by the list-processor. Everything appearing in [] below is optional; everything appearing in <> is mandatory; all arguments are case insensitive. Requests may be abbreviated, but you must specify at least the first three characters.
Some of the recognized requests are as follows:
A) set (igbo--net) [(option)_(arg[s])]
Without the optional arguments, this command gets you a list of all your current settings in igbo--net.
Options can be: mail, password, address.
Arguments for mail can be: ack, noack, postpone, digest.
Arguments for password have to be: current-password new-password.
Arguments for address have to be: current-address new address.
Examples:
1) set igbo--net
This implies: get your current option settings for igbo--net.
2) set igbo--net mail ack
This implies that the message you post on igbo--net is also sent to you. In other words, the system acknowledges the receipt of your message.
3) set igbo--net mail noack
This command does the opposite of that in (2) above.
4) set igbo--net mail postpone
This implies: no messages will be sent to you until you change mode again.
5) set igbo--net mail digest
This implies your message is not sent back to you. New messages are not sent to you as they arrive, but are accumulated into digests that are periodically sent to you.
B) (1) subscribe (igbo--net) (your name)
The only way to subscribe to igbo--net
Example:
subscribe igbo--net Ibe Eke
(2a) unsubscribe (igbo--net)
OR
(2b) signoff (igbo--net)
Two ways of removing yourself from igbo--net.
Examples:
unsubscribe igbo--net Ibe Eke
signoff igbo--net Ibe Eke
C) (a) recipients (igbo--net)
(b) review (igbo--net)
Get a listing of all people subscribed to igbo--net.
Example:
recipients igbo--net
review igbo--net
D) information (igbo--net)
Get information about igbo--net.
Example:
information igbo--net
E) index igbo--net/(password)
Get a list of files in igbo--net's archives. The files are usually split in parts locally according to size; they are also numbered sequentially; and the nomenclature system for the files (the filenames, that is) goes like this
igbo--net-digest. #
where # represent the number of the file, with "0" being the first file in the archive.
You will need a password to access the archives. This is the same password the list-processor instructed you to provide when you were originally subscribed to the system.
Example:
index igbo--net/xyzab
where "xyzab" is your password.
F) get igbo--net (filename)/(password)
Get a file (you have to specify the name of the file) from igbo--net archives.
Example:
get igbo--net igbo--net-digest.99/xyzab
where xyzab is your password, the same one described in the index command. This request will retrieve the file called igbo--net-digest.99