An email list has been established on LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU to facilitate email communication among the Masons of Brazos Union. It is used most often for meeting announcements, but anything of masonic interest is generally welcome.
To send an email message to all the people currently subscribed to the list, just send mail to:
[email protected]
This is called “sending mail to the list,” because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV makes copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address ([email protected]) is also called the “list address.” You must never try to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed to all the people who have subscribed.
Commands allow you to subscribe, unsubscribe, or set options on how you receive email from the list address. All commands must be in the MESSAGE BODY of your email (not the subject line) and must be sent only to the “LISTSERV address,” which is:
[email protected]
It is very important to understand the difference between the two, but fortunately it is not complicated. The LISTSERV address is like a FAX number that connects you to a machine, whereas the list address is like a normal voice line connecting you to a person. If you make a mistake and dial the FAX number when you wanted to talk to someone on the phone, you will quickly realize that you used the wrong number and call again. No harm will have been done. If on the other hand you accidentally make your FAX call someone’s voice line, the person receiving the call will be inconvenienced, especially if your FAX then re-dials every 5 minutes. The fact that most people will eventually connect the FAX machine to the voice line to allow the FAX to go through and make the calls stop does not mean that you should continue to send FAXes to the voice number. People would just get mad at you. It works pretty much the same way with mailing lists, with the difference that you are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the same time, and consequently you can expect a lot of people to get upset if you consistently send commands to the list address.
You may join the list at any time by sending a “SUBSCRIBE BU Firstname Lastname” command to [email protected]. Then you will receive a confirmation from the LISTSERV server telling you that you are subscribed, and from then on you will receive a copy of anything sent to the list address.
You may leave the list at any time by sending a “SIGNOFF BU” command to [email protected]. You can also tell LISTSERV how you want it to confirm the receipt of messages you send to the list.
The following link has some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding LISTSERV in general: