MFTC-L, Discussion of Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling
July, 1997
List owner: David Markham, DAVIDM1225@AOL.COM
MFTC-L is a listserv for discussion of issues related
to marriage and family therapy or that are of interest to marriage and family
therapists. While opinions from varied theoretical approaches are encouraged,
since the summer of 1994, the discussions have taken on a narrative/solution
focused, 2nd order cybernetics flavor. One thing that the members of this
list strive for is that all opinions be respected. Flames are not welcome.
Please save this message for future reference, especially if you are not
familiar with LISTSERV. This might look like a waste of disk space now,
but in 6 months you will be glad you saved this information when you
realize that you cannot remember what are the lists you are subscribed
to, or what is the command to leave the list to avoid filling up your
mailbox while you are on vacations. In fact, you should create a new mail
folder for subscription confirmation messages like this one, and for the
"welcome messages" from the list owners that you will occasionally
receive after subscribing to a new list.
To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list,
just send mail to MFTC-L@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU. This is called "sending
mail
to the list", because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV
makes copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address
(MFTC-L@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU) is also called the "list address".
You must
never try to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed
to all the people who have subscribed. All commands must be sent to the
"LISTSERV address", LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU. It is very important
to
understand the difference between the two, but fortunately it is not
complicated. The LISTSERV address is like a FAX number, and the list
address is like a normal phone line. If you make your FAX call someone's
regular phone number by mistake, it will be an unpleasant experience for
him but you will probably be excused the first time. If you do it
regularly, however, he will probably get upset and send you a nasty
complaint. It is the same with mailing lists, with the difference that
you are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the same time, so
a
lot more people get annoyed if you use the wrong number.
You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF MFTC-L"
command
to LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU. You can also tell LISTSERV how you want it
to confirm the receipt of messages you send to the list. If you do not
trust the system, send a "SET MFTC-L REPRO" command and LISTSERV
will
send you a copy of your own messages, so that you can see that the
message was distributed and did not get damaged on the way. After a while
you may find that this is getting annoying, especially if your mail
program does not tell you that the message is from you when it informs
you that new mail has arrived from MFTC-L. If you send a "SET MFTC-L
ACK
NOREPRO" command, LISTSERV will mail you a short acknowledgement instead,
which will look different in your mailbox directory. With most mail
programs you will know immediately that this is an acknowledgement you
can read later. Finally, you can turn off acknowledgements completely
with "SET MFTC-L NOACK NOREPRO".
Following instructions from the list owner, your subscription options
have been set to "REPRO SHORTHDR" rather than the usual
LISTSERV
defaults. For more information about subscription options, send a "QUERY
MFTC-L" command to LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU.
Contributions sent to this list are automatically archived. You can get
a
list of the available archive files by sending an "INDEX MFTC-L"
command
to LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU. You can then order these files with a "GET
MFTC-L LOGxxxx" command, or using LISTSERV's database search facilities.
Send an "INFO DATABASE" command for more information on the latter.
Please note that it is presently possible for other people to determine
that you are signed up to the list through the use of the "REVIEW"
command, which returns the e-mail address and name of all the
subscribers. If you do not want your name to be visible, just issue
a
"SET MFTC-L CONCEAL" command.
More information on LISTSERV commands can be found in the LISTSERV
reference card, which you can retrieve by sending an "INFO REFCARD"
command to LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU.
I maintains a home page at "http://users.aol.com/mrgary2u/MFTC.L.htm"
with information about MFTC-L and related resources. Any suggestions and
comments are welcome. I hope you enjoy it here.
Gary Schultheis
gar@brieftherapy.com
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