The Nonprofit FAQ

How do I subscribe? Unsubscribe? Post messages?

Subscriptions



Subscribing and unsubscribing is handled through a World-Wide Web interface. Use http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit to join or leave the list and to change other options.

You can also handle subscription options by email. For information on how to do this, send e-mail to: nonprofit-request@rain.org with the word 'help' (no quotes) in the subject line. (See troubleshooting below for some hints about making this work smoothly.)

Sending Messages



Posting is done by sending email to nonprofit@rain.org. Your message will automatically be forwarded to all subscribers of the list. You must be a subscriber to post, so visit http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit first if you are not currently a subscriber.

General Information



For background on this list, see http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit.

rain.org (the Regional Alliance for Informatin Networking) is a Santa Barbara, California, Internet Services Provider that operates NONPROFIT as a public service. Visit http://www.rain.org/ to learn more about their work

General Guidelines



Please use a descriptive subject that will guide readers to messages that interest them. Check carefully when responding to earlier messages to see that the subject is still descriptive of the content of the mail.

Please delete other people's signature files, portions of earlier messages that are no longer germaine to the purpose of your post, and other less useful portions of earlier posts when replying to messages on NONPROFIT. Remember that your message will be sent to many subscribers; please make it as efficient as possible.

Also, when replying, look to see where copies of your message are being sent. Sometimes a message is appropriately cross-posted to many mailing lists, but the reply should be sent to a shorter list (or perhaps only to the earlier author). Checking the cc: line in the headers at the top of outgoing messages may avoid unnecessary distribution of messages of no use to some recipients.

Troubleshooting



In the help message, you will be told that you must use your password in your email to subscribe to the list. That may seem odd, since you don't have one yet. Just follow the format and type whatever password you would like to use in that part of the message. After you send your email request, you will receive a message from rain.org asking you to confirm your subscription; you must follow the instructions and reply to this message or your subscription will not be entered.

Be sure to keep track of your password. You will not be able to unsubscribe, or change your subscription options, without it. You can request an email with your password in it through the World-Wide Web page at http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit

If you have trouble unsubscribing from the list, one thing to examine
carefully is the address the list-software is using to send the messages
to you. To unsubscribe, you must use exactly the same address,
so if you have several screen-names (as many AOL customers do, for
example), you will need to make the unsubscribe request while using the
same screen name as the one found in your subscription entry.

Please do not send email to the "posting" address above with "subscribe"
or "unsubscribe" requests. The software may forward such messages to
everyone on the list, but it does not respond to them in any useful way.


Using the Newsgroup soc.org.nonprofit



If you would like to read or post to soc.org.nonprofit (the Usenet
newsgroup), you will need to get advice (or look at the help file)
for the newsreader you use.

soc.org.nonprofit and NONPROFIT are linked together. Messages sent to one will be automatically copied and distributed in the other. It is not necessary to subscribe to both. Some people prefer UseNet, others email, for conducting online discussions. By having linked lists, the nonprofit community accommodates both preferences and includes a wider range of participants in the discussions.



NOTE: These instructions are new (on 4/30/01) and supercede instructions
on how to subscribe and unsubscribe using the addresses "usnonprofit-l-request@rain.org" and "majordomo@rain.org", which are no longer valid.



Revised 4/30/01 -- PB