It has been suggested that we combine the reefkeeping and marinefish lists. I posted some messages requesting input from list members and, not to my surprise, received well over 350 messages.

Three tendencies emerge but to evaluate them accurately they have to be viewed in their correct light:

1. Those who are on both lists and are mainly interested in reefs wish to see the lists combined.

2. Those who are on marinefish and truly keep fish-only tanks do not wish to see the lists combined.

3. Those who are just on reefkeeping only do not wish them combined as they express that they already receive a considerable amount of mail and do not need more

Well this really all makes sense to me.

Think the above through and you will see that all standpoints have their merits.

So what is the best course of action?

Not easy indeed but I think there is a solution and that is that members who are now on both lists, and do not have a fish-only tank, should not subscribe to the marinefish list and should deal with all fish questions on the reefkeeping list only, since the fish they are interested in are mainly if not in all cases, reef safe fishes.

Those who are on marinefish should post questions only about fish and related matters. if the topic is reef related post it to the reefkeeping list.

Those of you who are now on two lists and are not interested in the discussions on fish-only tanks should unsubscribe from that list. That will cut down on the number of messages they receive that are not of interest to them.

Those who are on the marinefish list and are interested in reef issues should subscribe to the reefkeeping list. If getting all the reefkeeping message traffic is too much, and I understand that on some days that load can be heavy, subscribe to the digest form.

In my opinion the above is the best way in which to solve the issue.

This being said, let me give you some instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and how to get digests rather than individual messages.

To unsubscribe:

1. Send a message to listmanager@athiel.com
2. leave the subject area blank
3. in the text area type: leave (name-of-the-list) (your-email-address)
4. for example: leave marinefish johndoe@superdupernet.com
5. Replace johndoe@superdupernet.com with your own email address (the one where you wish to receive the messages from the list.
6. send that message. That is all there is to it. Do not put extra lines or signature files in that message or it will be rejected. Note that in the example no brackets are used. They are not necessary and if you do use them your message will be rejected

   there should be only 1 space character between leave, the-name-of-the-list and your-email-address. At the end of that line no carriage return is necessary.

7. I suggest you print this out so you have the intructions in front of you when you need them.

To subscribe:

The instructions are exactly the same except that instead of leave you use the word join. A correct example of joining for instance the reefkeeping list list would be:

join reefkeeping johndoe@superdupernet.com     (replace the johndoe@ by your own email address).

To Receive the Digest form

The same as above but if you are already a member. So, if you already belong to reefkeepingand you want to change to digest form, or you belong to marinefish and wish to change from individual messages to digest (one long message per day that contains all of the messages from the previous day).

Follow the instructions above but use the word digest instead of leave or join

So what do you do if you are not a member and you want the digest form of a list. Simple you combine the two above in one message. So, for example, to get the digest of reefkeeping if you are not a member of that list yet you will need to send a message to the listmanager (listmanager@athiel.com), again no subject, and in the text area you type:

join reefkeeping your-email-address and on the next line digest reefkeeping your-email address.

Example:

join reefkeeping john@xyz.net
digest reefkeeping john@xyz.net

If you have any questions please Email Me.

I hope that this solution is acceptable and makes sense to everyone and if you all adhere to this, I expect to see the list of subscribers to marinefish go down quite a bit. The reason: if you are interested in fish and they are reef fish, you should post to the reefkeeping list.

PLEASE do not crosspost anymore. There is no reason. If you need to send a message to both lists, send them as individually addressed messages and word them based on the specific nature of the lists you are sending to.

So what about general questions? Send them to the list that deals with issues that are of the type of tank you keep. If you have a reef tank and you have a general question, send it to the reefkeeping list. If you have a fish-only tank send it to the marinefish list.

I will from time to time send you private messages if I see that you are posting to the wrong list or are crossposting. This is done in an effort to make things run smoother and not to act as the "list police".

Thank you for your cooperation.

Albert

April 5, 1998