I have a boilerplate file containing instructions on how to subscribe that I send to anyone I come across who has the need to know. I give the standard: sub listname Firstname Lastname BUT then give an example, saying that if your name is Jane Doe and you wish to subscribe to Autocat then the message you send is: sub autocat Jane Doe Judith Hopkins, Listowner of Autocat [log in to unmask] On Wed, 18 Sep 1996, Winship wrote: > > ->I still advocate that subscribers should be told the drill is: > > -> > > ->sub listname Firstname Lastname > > > > It would help if listserv itself standardized on some kind of name form > > here. Lets say the standard was 'FirstName LastName'. Sometimes, we > > get a subscriber who forgets to substitute their own name; they use, > > literally, 'FirstName LastName'. Ok, it sounds stupid, right? But they > > might be new to the net. Or, in my case, I manage a number of cancer > > For generic instructions I use the usual form. But, if someone is having > trouble subscribing I make it explicit. For example, for Jane Doe I > would tell her to send > > SUB AUTOCAT Jane Doe > > substituting the proper listname for what ever list is in question, > of course. > > Douglas > Douglas Winship Hays County, Texas [log in to unmask] > Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner > MEDLAB-L >