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Frequently
asked questions.
1. Is the list open to anyone and how much does it cost ?
2. Are there any rules ?
3. I need help regarding the Orchid Guide Digest (OGD), who do I contact ?
4. How can I subscribe to the Orchid Guide Digest (OGD) ?
5. I just subscribed, when can I expect my first message ?
6. I get the digest messages, but how do I open them to see the topics ?
7. I want to change the e-mail address of my subscription ?
8. How do I catch up and get the previous digests ?
9. Is there a searchable archive of the digest ?
10. I subscribed some time ago but haven't received a single message yet !
11. How do I post a message ?
12. I posted an e-mail message to the list but it hasn't appeared yet !
13. What do you mean with HTML-encoding and how do I get rid of it ?
14. What is a "forbidden" word ?
15. How often can I expect to receive a digest ?
16. I get confused by all these addresses, which is which ?
17. What ever happened to the Orchid List Digest (OLD) ?
18. Are there any other lists or newsgroups ?
19. The natural life cycle of mailing lists...
1. Is the list open to anyone and how much does it cost ?
Yes, the list is open to anyone and it is a completely free service to the orchid community.
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2. Are there any rules ?
This list has been created to serve as a way of discussing and sharing information and experiences with orchid growers worldwide.
Discussion topics include, but are not limited to:
- Cultivation methods
- Orchid species and hybrids
- Orchid travels
- Orchid Society events
- Conservation and propagation techniques
- any other orchid related subjects of interest to orchid growers
A few simple rules/guidelines apply:
- no spam nor flames are allowed on this list.
- no attachments are allowed either
and for those who use e-mail agents with HTML capability, please turn this option off when posting to the OGD. The majordomo list cannot handle this type of information and your message will appear "as is" on the list (meaning that we will all see the numorous HTML tags used) and this makes your message almost impossible to read.
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3. I need help regarding the Orchid Guide Digest (OGD), who do I contact ?
If you do not find a solution to your problems with the OGD within this "faq" then please send me a message at orchids-owner@orchidguide.com and together we will solve the problem.
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4. How can I subscribe to the Orchid Guide Digest (OGD) ?
There are two ways to subscribe:
- Send an e-mail addressed to orchids-request@orchidguide.com with the following command in the body of the message:
SUBSCRIBE digest address=your e-mail address
substituting the text "your e-mail address" with your real e-mail address.
- or go to http://www.orchidguide.com/ogd/subscr.htm and fill in your e-mail address.
Then check your mail after a while for a message coming from orchids-request@orchidguide.com entitled "confirm" followed by a unique identifier.
It is very important that you respond to this message. If you do not, then you will not be subscribed.
After your confirmation and if all goes well then you should receive a second message entitled "Welcome to the "Orchids" mailing list". Now you have been subscribed.
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5. I just subscribed, when can I expect my first message ?
Digests are compiled from incoming messages and once 20 Kb of messages is assembled then a digest is automatically sent out to all current subscribers. This means that you should normally receive a digest every 2 to 3 days. Of course, during holiday periods it may take a bit longer for a digest to appear, due to the low volume of contributions.
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6. I get the digest messages, but how do I open them to see the topics ?
The digest is just a long mail with all text in it. Scroll down in this e-mail message to read the individual submissions.
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7. I want to change the e-mail address of my subscription ?
This procedure will involve two steps:
- send a message to majordomo@orchidguide.com from the address that you are trying to unsubscribe, with the following text in the body:
UNSUBSCRIBE orchids-digest
- to subscribe your new address see question 4.
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8. How do I catch up and get the previous digests ?
To get a list of all previous digests that were distributed, send a message to majordomo@orchidguide.com with the following text in the body:
INDEX orchids-digest
Shortly afterwards you should receive a message entitled "Majordomo results" that looks like this:
>>>> index orchids-digest
total 2172
-rw-rw---- 1 majordom majordom 30657 Apr 19 14:16 v01.n001
-rw-rw---- 1 majordom majordom 29358 Apr 19 18:36 v01.n002
-rw-rw---- 1 majordom majordom 30873 Apr 20 12:23 v01.n003
-rw-rw---- 1 majordom majordom 29881 Apr 20 19:58 v01.n004
-rw-rw---- 1 majordom majordom 29444 Apr 21 20:46 v01.n005
-rw-rw---- 1 majordom majordom 30117 Apr 22 16:13 v01.n006
...
Lets say you want to retrieve digests number 1, 2 and 3. To do this you would send the the following commands to majordomo@orchidguide.com:
GET orchids-digest v01.n001
GET orchids-digest v01.n002
GET orchids-digest v01.n003
All you have to do then is wait for the digests to arrive.
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9. Is there a searchable archive of the digest ?
At present we are setting up a database and building a user friendly front-end that will contain both the defunct Orchid List Digest (OLD) and the Orchid Guide Digest (OGD).
Combined together, this source of information will contain more than 20.000 mails filled with orchid and orchid related info.
For now I suggest that you go to http://entobib.unl.edu/orchid.htm. There you will find the original searchable archive of the OLD. This application was setup by David B. Taylor and thanks to his generosity, he has included the OGD for the moment.
Please note that this service is temporary, since David does not know how long he will be able to keep it up and running.
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10. I subscribed some time ago but haven't received a single message yet !
Did you ever get the automatic authorisation message ? If not then please resubmit your subscribe request and make sure that you send it to the correct address (majordomo@orchidguide.com).
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11. How do I post a message ?
Send all your questions, discoveries, show anouncements and any other orchid related subject to orchids@orchidguide.com.
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12. I posted an e-mail message to the list but it hasn't appeared yet !
This may be caused by a couple of things. First, please make sure that you sent your message to the correct address (orchids@orchidguide.com). If you did, then your message may have bounced.
To protect the subscribers from spam, the list has been setup as a closed distribution list. This means that only members are allowed to post messages from the address they subscribed with. Furthermore all messages should be plain text and should not contain any attachments or "forbidden words".
So, the reasons why your message probably bounced could be due to:
- unknown e-mail address (did you use a different address to post your message from ?)
- did your e-mail contain attachments (photographs, text, virtual cards) ?
- did you enable HTML encoding in your e-mail program ?
- you probably used a "forbidden" word in your mail text !
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13. What do you mean with HTML-encoding and how do I get rid of it ?
Most modern e-mail programs for the Windows environment allow you to send messages in HTML format. Some of these programs even have this option automatically enabled.
When the majordomo system processes the mails for distribution it doesn't notice HTML code and reads this as "normal" text.
In order to prevent these cryptic messages from being distributed, the HTML-filter on the majordomo system was enabled.
The way how you disable HTML-encoding on your side, really depends on your e-mail program (consult your manual or help file and look for keywords like: RTF, HTML, plain text, message format, formatting).
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14. What is a "forbidden" word ?
These words have been specifically chosen to prevent mails containing these words from being distributed to the list.
In short, all administrative commands like unsubscribe, subscribe and their variations are included as well as the obvious words that you associate with spam messages.
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15. How often can I expect to receive a digest ?
Every 2 to 3 days, depending on the "traffic". Remember, digest are automatically sent out when 20 Kb of messages has been gathered.
Holiday periods may be calm, but then again, they may not…
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16. I get confused by all these addresses, which is which ?
There are only 3 addresses that you should remember (when it comes to the OGD of course):
- majordomo@orchidguide.com : the address to send your command to (SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, INDEX, …)
- orchids@orchidguide.com : the address to send your messages to the list to
- majordomo-owner@orchidguide.com : the address to contact me, the human behind the list…
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17. What ever happened to the Orchid List Digest (OLD) ?
Nobody really knows.
The Orchid List Digest was started in March 1990 by Willis Dair.
Willis continued to master the list for nearly 9 years until it stopped distributing mails at the end of October 1998.
By then the OLD had distributed thousands and thousands of e-mails and the last digest to appear was number 1285.
In April 1999 this unoffcial successor, the Orchid Guide Digest (OGD), was born. Already more than 1700 orchid enthousiasts have joined and everyday more and more people subscribe. Many of the "old" contributors and heavy-weights in the orchid world have moved to the OGD, to talk about orchids…
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18. Are there any other lists or newsgroups ?
Yes, there are. Many of these lists are low-volume discussion lists due to the specialised nature of the group.
Click here for an overview of other orchid and plant related discussion lists.
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19. The natural life cycle of mailing lists...
Click here to read a text about the natural life cycle of a mailing list. This text was pulled from the archives of the list-managers discussion list and reproduced in full here (the author is unknown).
Remember... it's up to YOU, the subscriber, to make something out of the OGD.
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