Re: save me from the FAQ!

[Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>]

Meredith (Suspended In Duct Tape <METH@delphi.com>) writes:
> First of all, let me state my admiration and gratitude to Uli, who spent a
> lot of time putting the new and improved version of the love-hounds FAQ
> together.  It's a great piece of work.
> 
> However, it's just too damned long to have to deal with in a Digest, even 
> once a month.  ...

I have to admit I have the same problem, all the more so when (as all too 
often) the 9600-baud modem pool I use is down and I have to fall back on the 
old 1200-baud Hayes.

> Is there any way at all for the FAQ to either be automatically sent out to 
> new subsribers to the love-hounds Digest and/or to be posted to the 
> newsgroup but not sent out to the entire list?  I realize this 
> list/newsgroup is totally automated and Bill Wisner doesn't have time to 
> read or really administer it, but if someone could come up with a way to 
> save those of us who don't require a FAQ once a month, I'm sure we would 
> all be grateful.

Just sending the FAQ to new lh subscribers would miss new gaffa readers.  And 
as we've just seen, the gate between lh and gaffa is fragile enough as it is 
and shouldn't be doctored ad hoc.

But there IS a work-around, and I recommend it again, Uli.  The digest is 
sent out at 12:00noon EST, which is 6:00pm in Germany.  I usually get mine 
between 12:25 and 12:35pm, so maybe you should allow 45 minutes to be safe.  
Simply shoot at making the FAQ the *last* post in the given lh-digest 
compilation cycle!  That means if you are also sending regular posts, send 
them *first* (last week you *followed* the FAQ with two additional posts).

This way, those of us who read the digest can assume (more or less safely, 
most of the time anyway) that when we see the FAQ we have reached the end of 
the new posts.  In fact, we can confirm that by paying attention to the 
'table of contents' that is now supplied.  If there is one straggler that 
comes in after the FAQ, it is often possible to jump to the END of the digest 
instantly, though it might take 15 minutes to scroll to it.

Finally, my thanks and appreciation too for the effort, Uli.  My guess is 
that the aggravation it is to scroll through it once a month is *nothing* 
compared to the recurrent queries we would otherwise be constantly fielding.

............................................................................
                                                            Peter Manchester
       "Eat the Music!"                        pmanchester@ccmail.sunysb.edu
                                                    72020.366@compuserve.com