Administrivia (BITNET shuffling)

[unix-wizards-request at BRL.ARPA]

      Good morning,

   This note is mostly to inform the BITNET subscribers of recent
changes in the handling of the mailing list for UNIX-WIZARDS, and soon,
INFO-UNIX.

   It appears that the WISCVM.WISC.EDU BITNET<->ARPA gateway is
overloaded, and that a large percentage of the traffic over this gateway
consists of mailing list distributions.  In an attempt to reduce this
traffic, someone has managed to invoke the proper incantation to produce
volunteers to manage redistribution lists on the BITNET side of the
gateway.  This allows me to send just one copy of the traffic through
the gateway.

   I was led to believe that as the redistribution was instituted, the
BITNET subscribers would be notified of the change, and what to do about
it -- namely, to contact the info-unix-request or unix-wizards-request
address as appropriate to be deleted from the ARPA mailing list as
soon as each BITNET subscriber was convinced that the redistribution
worked.  This was apparently not the case, as I have already read two
complaints in approximately ten messages (out of around 200 currently
outstanding).

   Note that a similar changeover will occur for the INFO-UNIX mailing
list shortly after I send the list of BITNET addresses to the person
managing that redistribution list (soon).

   To recap,  UNIX-WIZARDS is, and INFO-UNIX soon will be redistributed
from a volunteer on the BITNET to all other subscribers on the BITNET.
Once you start receiving the redistributed version, and are convinced
that it appears to be working, send a note to  unix-wizards-request or
info-unix-request as appropriate requesting deletion from the ARPA
mailing list.

   I hope this clears up some of the confusion.

--for Mike Muuss,
				Later,
				    Bob
				    <reschly at BRL>