The discussions sure have been interesting, large thanks to you. So
far as I know, there is no bug. Rather, people do not take into account
that computers are not humans. for them, literal meaning is THE meaning.
For thos who want to join xmca there is a "one right way" and an escape
clause.
The one right way is
1) Send to xmca-request who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu in the Body of the message.
2) Then, when you get a response, send TO THE SAME ADDRESS,
a message with self description on the SUBJECT line of the
message.
3) Once you get the files with the gazillion self descriptions,
send to xmca who-is-at weber (note xmca-request) for regular messages. And
use xmca-request only for administrative stuff.
4) Escape clause. When something does not work, send a message to
xfamily who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu and Cheryl, bless her heart, will figure
out what is wrong. You can also cc me or Cheryl when you try to
get connected and that way we can monitor problems.
It is amazing how many people have missed some detail of this
procedure and then written to tell us that there is a deamon
in the system. There may well be a deamon (or at least a flakey
Wizard!) but so far when we have check we have always found
that the person in trouble had missed some detail of this procedure.
To add one small item. Cheryl posted procedures for sending and
receving files from xmca-request via ftp. I hope that people will
begin to use that facility and also check the web page which Pim
is struggling to put together (she has been ill a good deal
in recent weeks, unfortunately). We really suffer in these
exchanges from their necessary brevity and episodic character,
and at least in principle, ftp and the Web page ought to provide
potential for deeper understanding. I know that this route invites
other problems, but at least it is a route.
mike
2