INFO. ON SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING TO TOX NEWS GROUP
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THE BIOSCI ELECTRONIC NEWSGROUP NETWORK INFORMATION SHEET ---------------------------------------------------------
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THE BIOSCI ELECTRONIC NEWSGROUP NETWORK INFORMATION SHEET
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This is the BIOSCI information sheet for the Americas and Pacific Rim
countries. If you are located in Europe, Africa, or Central Asia,
please retrieve that version of the information sheet by sending the
command
info ukinfo
in the body of an e-mail message addressed to the Internet address
biosci-server at net.bio.net
Any text placed on the Subject: line of your message is ignored, so
please be sure to put the "info ukinfo" command in the main body of
your e-mail message.
New users of BIOSCI/bionet may want to read the "Frequently Asked
Questions" or "FAQ" sheet for BIOSCI. The FAQ provides details on how
to participate in these forums and is available by gopher to
net.bio.net or anonymous FTP to net.bio.net [134.172.2.69] in
pub/BIOSCI/doc/biosci.FAQ. It may also be requested by sending e-mail
to biosci-server at net.bio.net as described above except that the
command
info faq
should be used in the body of the mail message. The FAQ is also
posted on the first of each month to the newsgroup
BIONEWS/bionet.announce immediately following the posting of both
versions of the BIOSCI information sheet.
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Introduction
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The BIOSCI newsgroup network was developed to allow easy worldwide
communications between biological scientists who work on a variety of
computer networks. BIOSCI is supported by the National Science
Foundation, Department of Energy, and National Institutes of Health in
the U.S.A. and by the CCL Daresbury Laboratory in the United Kingdom.
BIOSCI services are available to users free of charge.
BIOSCI messages are distributed by two means: USENET news software and
electronic mail.
WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE ALL INTERESTED USERS TO EXPLORE GETTING "USENET
NEWS" SOFTWARE AT YOUR SITE. The software is in the public domain, and
you will find it much more convenient than subscribing to
newsgroups by e-mail. Please consult your systems manager (the
software may already be available on a machine at your institution) or
contact biosci-help at net.bio.net for a list of software available free
of charge on the Internet. NOTE, however, that the installation and
maintenance of news software requires the assistance of a trained
systems operator in most cases and is not a task to be undertaken by a
computer novice.
Why is news software preferable to e-mail? News software recovers
messages automatically after network interruptions, whereas your e-mail
address may have to be removed from the subscription list at times if
your computer/network malfunctions and undelivered mail starts
bouncing back to the BIOSCI administrative sites. You will have to
manually retrieve lost messages from the archives if your e-mail
subscription is suspended.
News software organizes messages by topic and subtopic for easy
browsing. In contrast if you subscribe by e-mail to more than one
discussion list, messages from multiple lists arrive into your
personal mail file in chronological order of posting only and are
mixed in with your personal messages. You have to connect the
discussion threads yourself if you use e-mail.
In summary, e-mail participation should be seen as a LAST RESORT to be
used only if news software can not be installed locally.
Fortunately, BIOSCI offers advantages for e-mail users too. By having
distribution sites or "nodes" on each major network, BIOSCI allows its
e-mail users to contact people around the world without having to
learn a variety of computer addressing tricks. Any user can simply
post a message to his/her regional BIOSCI node and copies of that
message will be distributed automatically to all other subscribers on
all of the participating networks, including the Internet, USENET,
BITNET, EARN, NETNORTH, HEANET, and JANET.
List of BIOSCI Mailing Lists and Newsgroups
-------------------------------------------
BIOSCI messages are distributed on the newsgroups in the "bionet"
hierarchy of USENET and on the corresponding mailing lists indicated
below. Contents of the USENET newsgroups and the e-mail distributions
are *identical*, i.e., messages sent in by e-mail are also forwarded
to USENET and messages posted to USENET newsgroups are also
distributed to e-mail subscribers.
An expanded description of the purpose of each newsgroup follows this
list.
MAILING LIST NAME USENET Newsgroup Name
----------------- ---------------------
ACEDB-SOFT bionet.software.acedb
AFCR ** bionet.prof-society.afcr
AGEING bionet.molbio.ageing
AGROFORESTRY bionet.agroforestry
---stuff deleted-----
TOXICOLOGY bionet.toxicology
TROPICAL-BIOLOGY bionet.biology.tropical
URODELES bionet.organisms.urodeles
VIROLOGY bionet.virology
WOMEN-IN-BIOLOGY bionet.women-in-bio
X-PLOR bionet.software.x-plor
YEAST bionet.molbio.yeast
ZBRAFISH bionet.organisms.zebrafish
+ full name is BIOLOGICAL-INFORMATION-THEORY-AND-CHOWDER-SOCIETY
** Note that newsgroups flagged with ** are moderated, i.e., postings
are directed to a moderator (editor) who later forwards messages
(possibly edited or condensed) to the newsgroup.
List of BIOSCI Newsgroup Topics
-------------------------------
MAILING LIST NAME TOPIC
----------------- -----
ACEDB-SOFT Discussions by users and developers of
genome
databases using the ACEDB software.
AFCR ** American Federation for Clinical Research
announcements
AGEING Discussions about ageing research
AGROFORESTRY Discussions about agroforestry research
---stuff deleted---
TOXICOLOGY Discussions about research in toxicology
TROPICAL-BIOLOGY Discussions about research in tropical
biology
URODELES Discussions about research in urodele
amphibian biology
VIROLOGY Discussions about research in virology
WOMEN-IN-BIOLOGY Discussions about issues concerning women
biologists
X-PLOR Discussions about the X-PLOR software for
3D macromolecular structure
determination
YEAST Discussions about the molecular biology
and genetics of yeast
ZBRAFISH Discussions about research using the model
organism Zebrafish (Danio rerio)
** Note that newsgroups flagged with ** are moderated, i.e., postings
are directed to a moderator (editor) who later forwards messages
(possibly edited or condensed) to the newsgroup.
Participating in BIOSCI Using USENET News Software
--------------------------------------------------
Users who have access to USENET news software and the bionet USENET
groups can participate immediately, i.e., they do not need to
"subscribe" to anything. They can read and reply to messages using
their local news software (e.g., "nn" or "rn") and post new messages
of their own.
Users will have to consult their local systems managers for help in
using news software. There are many different programs available and
the BIOSCI staff can not provide training in news software use.
Fortunately, most news software is fairly simple to use and can be
learned quickly.
When posting new messages, USENET users should be sure to set the
message "distribution" to "world" or "bionet" or else your message may
not be distributed beyond your local computer. In most cases,
messages are posted directly to the newsgroups without editorial
intervention. Some groups (indicated in the lists above) are
"moderated," however. This means that postings to these newsgroups
will be sent to the newsgroup moderator who will decide whether or not
the message is suitable for posting to the newsgroup in question.
Participating in BIOSCI by E-mail
---------------------------------
PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO USENET NEWS YOU DO NOT NEED AN
E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION!! Simply read and post to the newsgroups in the
"bionet" newsgroup hierarchy using your USENET news software.
E-mail Subscription Requests and other Information
--------------------------------------------------
For users in the Americas and Pacific Rim countries, e-mail
subscription and cancellation requests are handled automatically by an
e-mail server, although personal assistance is also available via the
biosci-help at net.bio.net address. Once your e-mail address is added to a
subscription list, mail will be sent to your address automatically
each time someone posts a message. This will continue until you
remove your address from the subscription list.
You should first send the
lists command to the address
biosci-server at net.bio.net
to obtain a listing of all current BIOSCI mailing lists. You may
leave your message Subject: line blank in any message that is sent to
the server (text on the Subject: line is *not* processed). Please
include all commands only in the body of your mail message.
Please BE SURE to substitute the appropriate mailing list name
obtained FROM THE "lists" COMMAND OUTPUT for "listname" in the
subscribe or unsubscribe commands shown below. Some list names used
by the server are abbreviated compared to their full spelling in the
BIOSCI information sheet.
After obtaining the names of the mailing lists using the "lists"
command, use the
subscribe listname (i.e., subscribe toxicology)
or
unsubscribe listname
commands to add or delete your address from the mailing lists. Please
substitute "listname" above with the appropriate name of the list that
you want to join/cancel.
!!! PLEASE BE SURE to send all subscribe or unsubscribe commands only to
!!! the biosci-server at net.bio.net address and not to the newsgroup
posting
!!! addresses where they will bother all of the readers!
Your e-mail address is obtained AUTOMATICALLY from the header of your
mail message and should NOT be included on the subscribe/unsubscribe
command line unless you need to sign up at a different address than
the one you are currently using. Such requests must be handled
manually by us and create extra work. (Also you would be surprised at
how many people list their e-mail addresses incorrectly, so please let
our server obtain this information automatically from your mail
header.)
Multiple commands may be placed on separate lines in the same mail
message, i.e., you can include all of your subscribe and/or
unsubscribe requests in one mail message as long as each is on a
separate line. If you put multiple commands in your mail message,
please put an
end
command as the last in your list of commands. This helps avoid
sending to the server any signatures that might be automatically
included in your mail messages.
Here is a sample subscription message. The address public at state-u.edu
would be automatically added to the bionews and grasses mailing lists
as the result of this message.
To: biosci-server at net.bio.net
From: J.Q. Public <public at state-u.edu>
Subject:
subscribe bionews
subscribe grasses
end
If you are already a BIOSCI e-mail subscriber and need to determine
which mailing lists you are on currently, send the command
which
to biosci-server at net.bio.net if you are signed up under the address
which will appear on the From: line of your mail message. If your
address has changed, you can put a search string after the which
command, e.g., if you are certain than your user name has always been
jqpublic but do not remember the computer hostname, send the command
which jqpublic
Other command details are included in the mail server help file from
biosci-server at net.bio.net. To get the server help file
(in computerese 8-), send in the
help
command to the server address.
E-mail Address Changes
----------------------
If you have subscribed to a newsgroup and are now leaving an
institution or changing your e-mail address, it is IMPERATIVE that you
cancel your subscription! Non-existent addresses or overflowing
mailboxes cause computer mail programs to send back "daemon" messages
which might bother everybody on the newsgroup. We will immediately
remove any address causing such a problem, but would prefer it if you
would notify us in advance as a courtesy to the rest of the user
community.
Interruption of E-mail Service
------------------------------
It is our policy to remove any address from our mailing lists which
becomes inaccessible and causes mail to bounce back to the sender.
This might happen to you if your local computer or network fails for a
significant period of time. If you notice that you are no longer
receiving BIOSCI postings, it may be because your address was removed
for the above reason. It will be necessary for you to contact
biosci-help at net.bio.net and resubscribe. Please see the BIOSCI FAQ,
mentioned at the beginning of this document, for more details on how
BIOSCI handles addresses which reject mail.
Posting Messages to Newsgroups by E-mail
----------------------------------------
Those who use e-mail to post messages should send their mail to the
following Internet addresses in the USA:
**********************************************************************
DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT POST SUBSCRIPTION OR CANCELLATION REQUESTS
DIRECTLY TO ANY OF THE NEWSGROUP E-MAIL POSTING ADDRESSES. PLEASE USE
ONLY THE ADDRESS
biosci-server at net.bio.net
for subscription or cancellation requests as explained above. Your
posting could go to several thousand people. Supposing that each
person spends a couple of seconds to figure out that you did this,
before they go on to the next message. You will have wasted the
equivalent of several hours of one person's time, not to mention
wasted computer time and disk storage.
**********************************************************************
MAILING LIST NAME Mailing Address
----------------- ----------------
ACEDB-SOFT acedb at net.bio.net
AFCR ** afcr at net.bio.net
AGEING ageing at net.bio.net
AGROFORESTRY ag-forst at net.bio.net
---stuff deleted---
TOXICOLOGY toxicol at net.bio.net
TROPICAL-BIOLOGY trop-bio at net.bio.net
URODELES urodeles at net.bio.net
VIROLOGY virology at net.bio.net
WOMEN-IN-BIOLOGY womenbio at net.bio.net
X-PLOR x-plor at net.bio.net
YEAST yeast at net.bio.net
ZBRAFISH zbrafish at net.bio.net
+ full name is BIOLOGICAL-INFORMATION-THEORY-AND-CHOWDER-SOCIETY
** Note that newsgroups flagged with ** are moderated, i.e., postings
are directed to a moderator (editor) who later forwards messages
(possibly edited or condensed) to the newsgroup.
Retrieval of old postings from the BIOSCI archives
--------------------------------------------------
Users with Internet access can use either the WAIS or gopher software
to search the BIOSCI archives located at net.bio.net as described in
the BIOSCI FAQ. E-mail users can retrieve messages from our waismail
e-mail server. For waismail instructions, send the word
help
in a message to waismail at net.bio.net. Please leave the Subject: line
of your message blank.
BIOSCI "prototype" newsgroups
-----------------------------
To assist areas of research in developing their own electronic
communication forums, BIOSCI at net.bio.net will set up, on request, a
mailing list *without* an associated USENET newsgroup. The mailing
list is created only at net.bio.net, the U.S. BIOSCI node, and all
subscription requests must be sent to the e-mail server at
biosci-server at net.bio.net regardless of one's geographical location.
There is no charge for this or any other BIOSCI service, as usual.
This procedure waives the rule that requires each new newsgroup
proposal to be put to a vote of the readership first (see the BIOSCI
FAQ, mentioned at the beginning of this document, for details on
creating new full-fledged newsgroups and prototype newsgroups). Each
mailing list ("prototype newsgroup") must have a scientist volunteer
to serve as its discussion leader and an initial list of e-mail
subscribers. The prototype newsgroup has six months to build up its
readership after which time it is put out for a vote for full
newsgroup status (i.e., to have both a mailing list *and* parallel
USENET newsgroup created at both BIOSCI nodes in the U.S. and U.K.).
If you are interested in establishing such a forum for your research
specialty, please contact biosci-help at net.bio.net.
The current prototype newsgroups are listed below. Please send
subscription requests to biosci-server at net.bio.net and NOT to the
newsgroup posting addresses. Prototype newsgroups may *not* be fully
archived, so please be sure to save any messages that you may want to
refer to again.
Posting Address Purpose
--------------- -------
bigblue at net.bio.net Discussions between researchers who use
transgenic animal systems for mutation assays.
phbiotec at net.bio.net Discussions about research in pharmaceutical
biotechnology.
plant-ed at net.bio.net Discussions among instructors, lab
preparators, and graduate assistants who
teach courses in any aspect of plant biology
at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
radoncjc at net.bio.net Radiation Oncology journal club (moderated list)
rna at net.bio.net Discussions about RNA editing, RNA splicing,
and ribozyme activities of RNA.
rust-mil at net.bio.net Research about the biotrophic foliar fungal
diseases of cereals, including rusts,
powdery mildews and downy mildews.
yac at net.bio.net Discussions about yeast artificial chromosomes.
Retrieving Other BIOSCI Documentation
-------------------------------------
BIOSCI documents are kept in the anonymous FTP area on net.bio.net
[134.172.2.69] in the directory pub/BIOSCI/doc and can be retrieved
either via FTP or by gopher to net.bio.net or on the WWW to URL
http://www.bio.net/. Documents can also be retrieved by addressing
e-mail to the Internet address biosci-server at net.bio.net and including
any of the commands below in the body of your mail message. Text
placed on the Subject: line of your message is ignored, so please be
sure that the commands are in the body of the mail message. Although
multiple commands may be placed in one message, we recommend instead
that one message be sent per command to avoid having to extract
multiple documents from a single message. The server sends back all
information requested from a multiple command query in a single
response message.
Document to Retrieve Command to send to
biosci-server at net.bio.net
--------------------
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BIOSCI FAQ info faq
(Frequently Asked ?'s
about using BIOSCI)
BIOSCI info sheet for the
Americas & Pacific Rim info usinfo
BIOSCI info sheet for
Europe, Africa, &
Central Asia info ukinfo
Information on Network
Connections info internet
How to set up USENET News
at your site info usenet1
USENET Netiquette and other
edifying reading info usenet2
FURTHER QUESTIONS??? Please address them to biosci-help at net.bio.net.
PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT BIOSCI QUESTIONS TO THE PERSONAL E-MAIL ADDRESSES
OF PEOPLE ON THE BIOSCI STAFF!! DUE TO OUR VOLUME OF MAIL, ANSWERS MAY
BE DELAYED OR NOT SENT AT ALL!!
