Using the OASIS Announce Mail List

["Scott McGrath" <scott.mcgrath@oasis-open.org>]

In the past 24 hours a number of events combined to raise concerns about the
Announce mail list.  These events were internal to the OASIS list servers,
and were not the fault of any member or user of the list.

So what happened?

2 things - We inadvertently and temporarily changed the list configuration.
That exacerbated the usually minimal problem caused when a message is sent
to the list in a non-text format.  These things collided badly on a message
sent by Arbortext yesterday evening, and they were the recipients of ire
that should not have been directed towards them. 

If you care to read on, here are the details:

Our mail usually is prefixed by the list name [Announce].  Because of the
configuration change, there was no prefix.  Without the prefix, the mail
message was seen by some as unsolicited spam.

People reacted naturally and sought removal from the "spam" distribution,
but there was no footer describing the unsubscribe process, as one would
expect.  This is why our instructions on using the OASIS Announce list
implores submitters to use plain text messages  *If your mail client sends
mail in anything other than plain text format, it may be in a non-standard
format.  This may prevent the list server from properly interpreting the end
of your message and inserting the footer.*  

Again, the list configuration change impacted.  Replies to the "footer-free"
mail message did not go to our list administration team as expected; it was
distributed back to the list.  Had the replies come back here, we would have
dealt with the issues immediately.

BUT, all that is fixed.  The list is now properly configured.

If the Announce mail, and this whole deal disinterests you, you can
unsubscribe at the OASIS Subscription Manager at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl

If you too want to send mail to the list (remember, we moderate for the
intended purpose) here is our standard reminder on when and how to use the
OASIS Announce list:

The OASIS Announce mail list is an opt-in subscription list of well over
1000 individuals representing the OASIS membership.  The member subscribers
to this list tend to be product managers, business development and marketing
focused.  In addition to these members, we have now opened this list to all
public subscribers as well and are directing a wide range of analysts,
editors and researchers to this list.  Your news will have a far greater
reach than ever before.

Sponsor and Contributor members can post to this list to share your product
developments; business news and other news you feel will be of legitimate
interest to the subscribers.  To post to this list:
-  Your message must be in plain text
-  Your message should not contain graphics or have attachments
-  Send your news to announce@lists.oasis-open.org

The mail is delivered to the subscribers with the prefix [Announce] to help
those using mail sorting filters.

I hope this helps,

Scott McGrath
Director Member Services

scott.mcgrath@oasis-open.org
+ 1 978 667-5115 ext 202
+ 1 978-667-5114 fax
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