Thu, 9 Jan 1997 05:10:26

Your subscription to the RISKS list (Risks List) has been accepted.

Please save this message for future reference, especially if you are not
familiar with LISTSERV. This might look like a waste of disk space now,
but in 6 months you will be glad you saved this information when you
realize that you cannot remember what are the lists you are subscribed
to, or what is the command to leave the list to avoid filling up your
mailbox while you are on vacations. In fact, you should create a new mail
folder for subscription confirmation messages like this one, and for the
"welcome messages" from the list owners that you will occasionally
receive after subscribing to a new list.

To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list,
just send mail to RISKS@VM.MARIST.EDU. 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
(RISKS@VM.MARIST.EDU) 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. All commands must be sent to the
"LISTSERV address", LISTSERV@VM.MARIST.EDU (or LISTSERV@MARIST.BITNET).
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, and the list address is like a normal phone line. If you make
your FAX call someone's regular phone number by mistake, it will be an
unpleasant experience for him but you will probably be excused the first
time. If you do it regularly, however, he will probably get upset and
send you a nasty complaint. It is the same with mailing lists, with the
difference that you are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the
same time, so a lot more people get annoyed if you use the wrong number.

You may leave