bursting digests

Marc Bizer(mlbizer[at]mail.utexas.edu)
Sat, 4 Jul 1998 14:20:20 +0200

Hi everyone,

        The reason why I switched to digest mode for everyone is because
there's so much volume. I couldn't have the server blasting out hundreds of
messages every time our moderator forwarded a message to the list. And
there are many ways to break up a digest so as to delete individual
messages and respond to them:

1. The following command (part of the procmail package):

       formail -ds < winmacdig > winmac

Will split a digest and put it into a format that you can now browse
with you e-mail program.

2. Cucumber 1.2 is a mailing list digest burster for Eudora. It's an
AppleScript that works w/ Eudora.

       http://www.karsh.demon.co.uk/soft/cucudoc.html

3. There's also a Eudora plug-in called "Burst" which you can download:

<http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive/Archive/comm/inet/mail/burst-15.hq
x>

I really think that digest mode is much more efficient for all concerned:
less network overhead, less CPU time, etc. It does introduce a delay of a
couple of hours for those who want an answer immediately. If traffic
diminishes, perhaps I'll switch allow digest and normal mode again.

4. The best solution may simply be to switch the list to MIME digests.
These arrive as attachments, and double-clicking on them opens a mailbox
(at least in Eudora) with all the individual messages. Can everyone handle
this?

        --Marc

P.S. List traffic has diminished significantly with this last digest. Comments?

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Sun Jul 12 1998 - 02:17:22 PDT