As many of you noticed, and some complained, the LISTSERV software at Boise
State University (idbsu.idbsu.edu) was inoperable for over a week due to a
corrupt disk. Since it was the first week of school, as well as the days
after a holiday, other priorities interfered with solving the problem as
quickly as most of us would have liked. In addition, it turns out that I'm
the closest thing the campus currently has to a "LISTSERV Guru". Yes, that
is more than a little scary. Those who want to know gory technical
details, causes, etc, can contact me directly.
With the help of several members of the LSTOWN-L and LSTSRV-L lists in
other parts of the country, and a great deal of blood and sweat on the part
of various Office of Information Technology folks (as well as most of my
time the last five days (since last Wednesday evening)), the LISTSERV
software is operating smoothly again and is finishing cleaning out the
backlog of messages.
Since the disk was corrupted, however, some 400 files were lost and are not
retrievable. These could have included requests to subscribe to a list,
requests to unsubscribe from a list, requests to change subscription
options, messages to a list, or messages awaiting the approval of the
editor, moderator, or listowner. If something you posted in the past two
weeks was NOT distributed by the list you're a member of, and still hasn't
been posted within twelve hours of receiving this message, feel free to
post it again. Or, of course, submit the command again. If you have
problems with any of these commands, feel free to contact me directly at
this address only: [log in to unmask]
Finally, to those who've complained, quite bitterly or hostilely in a
couple of cases, I can only say that this FREE PUBLIC SERVICE offered by
Boise State University is exactly that: free. Most of the lists hosted at
BSU are related to courses taught on or off campus. Many others are
related to the mission of the university in some way, usually through
discussion of technological or academic issues. A very small number or
more distantly related to academic issues.
I personally expect that the LISTSERV service will continue, but can't
guarantee that all messages will be processed as quickly as we'd always
like. Usually that is for reasons due to internet traffic and system load
on the mission critical operations to which most campus computing resources
are devoted.
I do expect that within the next week to month that the lists hosted at
idbsu.idbsu.edu will be moved to a new server, listserv.idbsu.edu. List
members will be notified in advance, but there could once again be some
minor problems during those periods. I can only solicit your patience and
understanding.
What can you do to help, besides being patient and understanding? Offer a
kind word of appreciation to the owner of your list, or to the university.
Remind your legislators of the importance of education in the broadest
sense, whether at the local, state, or national level. Send a gift to the
Boise State University Foundation for the benefit of the Office of
Information Technology or the Albertsons Library. (Send me private email
and I'll tell you how and where). I'm sure you can come up with other ideas.
NOTE: This entire message is the author's personal opinion, and is being
sent on personal time (late lunch hour, as worked on LISTSERV over the
normal one) from a personal email account. It in no way represents any
opinions of the Albertsons Library, the Office of Information Technology,
or anyone else at Boise State University. Any questions or comments should
be taken up personally with the undersigned author.
cheers to all....and enjoy going through the backlog of mail you may be
receiving.
dan
--
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho 83716-7115 USA 208-383-0165
[log in to unmask] http://www.84.com/ (check out our 1997 holiday letter)
http://library.idbsu.edu/ http://cyclops.idbsu.edu/ http://www.lili.org/
Sent me a postcard of a library yet? You'll get something nice in return.
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