At 01:40 PM 1996/03/31 -0600, Jilla wrote:
>Hi, all -
>
>I'm thinking of instituting topics on my list, but I've never actually seen
>them used.
>
>Couple questions:
>
>If I enable the "Other" topic, will messages that don't fall within a
>specific topic appear on the list with a subject line reading:
>
>Other: xxxxx
>
>If someone replies to a topic message, will the response come through reading:
>
>Topicname: Re: Topicname xxxxx
>
>I'm trying to figure out what the actual subject lines will look like.
>Thanks for any help.
 
The first thing to realize is that LISTSERV does not change the subject
lines at all.  When you enable topics for your list, LISTSERV will
selectively distribute the messages depending on the contents of the subject
line and the topic settings of the subscriber.
 
Suppose you have a topic called "airplanes".  LISTSERV will then look for
this word (followed by a colon) at the beginning of the subject lines.  It
will ignore any number of REs before the keyword.  It will also accept
shorter forms: airplane: and even air: will work.  If LISTSERV finds the
keyword, the message will be sent just to those subscribers who have
selected this topic.
 
If LISTSERV does not find a topic keyword, the message is sent only to those
who have selected the topic "other".
 
Topic settings have no effect for those set to receive digests or indexes of
the list.
 
Topics work very well technically.  The major issue in establishing them on
a list is whether your subscribers will use them consistently enough to make
them worthwhile.  I think it is much easier to do on a moderated list--you
just reject the messages that don't have the right topic in the subject line.
 
We have given up on topics and created separate lists for what used to be
topics.  Our lists, however, were for children and had hundreds of new
participants each month.  I'm sure topics work well on lists with a more
stable membership.
 
 
                               Peace,  Dan
 
<<  Daniel D. Wheeler - Education & Psychology, Univ. of Cincinnati  >>
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