------------------------------------- NEW BCPL.NET NEWS DISTRIBUTION METHOD ------------------------------------- Until now two methods have been used to distribute BCPL.NET "System News" messages. UNIX shell account users saw new ones at login, displayed via the shell's "news" function. Users of POP3 mail programs (Outlook, Eudora, Netscape, etc.) received them as e-mail, via the POP3 servers "bulletins" function. Effective as of this message we will call it "BCPL.NET News" (for some reason the name "System News" confused people), and we will use a mailing list to distribute it to everyone as e-mail. We didn't try using a mailing list before because it imposes a heavier load on the mail server. Thanks to the recent hardware upgrade that should no longer be a problem. The new distribution method has three advantages for BCPL.NET customers and staff: o UNIX shell account users will now receive BCPL.NET News via e-mail. This solves the problem experienced by some UNIX users with old terminal software lacking scrollback ability, where they were unable to read the beginning of a long System News message once it had scrolled off the top of the terminal window at login. o Customers who have their e-mail forwarded to non-BCPL.NET addresses and never logged into their UNIX shell accounts did not see BCPL.NET News at all under the old distribution method. Now they will. o The new distribution method makes it a lot easier for us to post news messages. Under the old method each System News message had to be saved as files in three different locations, with a slightly different format required for each location. The new method is almost as simple as posting any other e-mail message. BCPL.NET News messages will be easy to spot in your Inbox because they will be addressed to "BCPL.NET News ", and the "Subject:" line will always begin with "BCPL.NET NEWS". You cannot unsubscribe from the BCPL.NET News mailing list. All BCPL.NET customers and BCPL staff are automatically subscribed to the list by an automated process that updates the subscription list at regular intervals. If you really object to receiving BCPL.NET News messages, simply delete them without reading them. However please keep in mind that BCPL.NET News is how we keep you informed about issues related to our Internet sevice. If you choose not to read BCPL.NET News as e-mail, we recommend that you make a habit of reading the archives at http://www.bcpl.net/sysnews.html on a regular basis. The new BCPL.NET News mailing list is a "one way" list. Only BCPL.NET administrative staff can post messages to the list. If you try to reply to a BCPL.NET News message or post a new message to the list, your message will be bounced to the list owner (ispadmin@bcpl.net), who will forward your message to the appropriate BCPL.NET staff if necessary. If you need to communicate with BCPL.NET Internet Services about your account, your message will get to the right person more quickly if you use one of the contact addresses or phone numbers shown below. ----------------------------------- BCPL.NET INTERNET SERVICES CONTACTS: ----------------------------------- Administration & Policy: ispadmin@bcpl.net 410-887-6180 Sales, Renewals, Account Status: accounts@bcpl.net 410-887-4172 Technical Support (Help Desk): help@bcpl.net 410-887-3297 Usenet News Newsgroup Requests news-admin@bcpl.net 410-887-6180 E-Mail & Newsgroup Abuse Reports: abuse@bcpl.net 410-887-6180 FAX: 410-887-2091 Help Pages: http://www.bcpl.net/help.html (or enter "help" at the UNIX shell prompt) BCPL.NET News Archives: http://www.bcpl.net/sysnews.html (or enter "sysnews" at the UNIX shell prompt)