The Computer Guys Discussion List
The Computer Guys Discussion List
cguys.org
Passionate about computers
The COMPUTERGUYS-L is the very active online remnant of the Computer Guys radio show. List topics include various technology and computer issues, all kinds of computer hardware and software, the societal implications of technology, and other trivia. The list is open to all and we encourage all list members to invite others to join in with the discussion.
Recent Posts [From the Yahoo! RSS Feed
Yahoo! Groups discontinued the RSS feed in 2014.
List Emergencies
If something bad happens to The Computer Guys listserv, look here for news and disaster recovery plans.
To Subscribe via Gadget
The fastest way to subscribe is to just use the gadget, but this gets you a limited-features, email-only membership. This does not require a Yahoo ID. If you join via the gadget you are only on the mailing list, you can’t access the group's web features (photos, files, links, polls, calendar, etc.).
To Subscribe via the Web Interface
The best way to subscribe to The Computer Guys mailing list is via the web browser interface. This requires a Yahoo ID. The advantage is that the web interface gives you more control over your subscription, greater convenience, and access to additional features (like photos, files, links, polls, calendar, etc.).
- Go to the group’s page
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ComputerGuys-L - Click the Join This Group! button in the upper-right corner of the group’s page.
- If you’re not already signed in to your Yahoo! account, enter your Yahoo! ID and password in the Sign In to Yahoo! box that appears. If you don’t have a Yahoo! account, you can create one by clicking Sign Up at the top of the page.
- On the Join This Group page that appears, set your membership preferences
- Click Join in the lower-right corner of the page.
To Subscribe via Email
You can also subscribe to The Computer Guys mailing list via email. This does not require a Yahoo ID. If you join via email you are only on the mailing list, you can’t access the group's web features (photos, files, links, polls, calendar, etc.).
- Send a blank email to
ComputerGuys-L-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. - To activate your subscription, just reply to the confirmation message you receive.
The email address used to send this email is the email address that is joining the list. List emails will be sent to the email address you joined with. You can post to the list only from the email address you joined with. You can manage your list subscription only from the email address you joined with. For many more options, use the web interface.
Our New Home at Yahoo!
The list, hosted by AOL, was slow for a week and eventually went down. It stayed down with no communication from AOL. Their support list went down too. So we are assuming that AOL is no longer interested. We thank them for close to 15 years of reliable service and great spam filtering.
So time for us to move to a new home. We set up a new list at Yahoo Groups. I sent out invites to our old members, but so far we have lost half of our former selves. So pass the word on so people will rejoin. Follow the directions above.
Managing Your Subscription
The best way to change delivery options is to go to http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups. After you log in you should see all your groups listed. Click on Edit My Groups and then select the delivery options you want from the drop down menus on the right. You can edit the settings for all your groups at once or to edit settings for a particular group go to that group's home page by clicking on Edit My Membership. Then click Save Changes.
You can also send commands via email. Notice that this is not the ComputerGuys-L@yahoogroups.com address that is used for regular list discussions. Warning: If you send commands to the regular discussion list address we will make fun of you.
Going on vacation?
Replying to every list message with an Out of Office email will make you unpopular around here. • Before you set your out-of-office message, you should temporarily suspend list mail by sending an email to this address:
COMPUTERGUYS-L-nomail@yahoogroups.com
• Turn list mail back on by sending an email to this address:
COMPUTERGUYS-L-normal@yahoogroups.com
Fortunately, many email services are now smart enough to send only one notice per address, but we sill still make rude comments about you.
Too much mail?
Digest mode will send all the day's posts to you in a single email. To get digest mode, send an email to this address: COMPUTERGUYS-L-digest@yahoogroups.com
Tired of the List?
Send an email to this address: COMPUTERGUYS-L-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
If you have a gripe, send Tom a note about why you are leaving us or see the note below on calmness and then stick around.
Want to send mail from more than one address, but get our mail at only one address?
Subscribe from multiple addresses. From the send-only account send an email to COMPUTERGUYS-L-nomail@yahoogroups.com
You can also edit your Yahoo profile to give it a list of email addresses you will be using.
Automatic Deletion
Subscribers are automatically deleted from the list when delivery errors have been reported for a period of 5 days or when 150 delivery errors have been received, whichever occurs first. After 6 days without errors your address will be taken off the watch list, which resets the error counters. If you are automatically deleted you may simply resubscribe, but you should investigate your email problem because you are probably missing lots of email. This is done without notice because there is no way to send a notice to a dead email account.
Things To Keep In Mind
Think before you post. The list is not moderated. Once a message has been sent there is no getting it back. It will be immediately sent to 100s of people and will be archived on the Internet until the end of time.
No advertising! Brief announcements of free events are allowed, but advertising commercial events is prohibited! If your emails normally contain a commercial sig block, turn it off. This is not the place to troll for business.
Spam. Thanks to AOL's very effective spam filters, virtually all spam is blocked. Don't even think about it. AOL may even sue you for a lot of money.
GMail. If you use a GMail account with COMPUTERGUYS-L, be aware that GMail handles email discussions in a special way. After sending an email to COMPUTERGUYS-L you will not see it in your GMail in box until after someone responds. If no one responds you will not see your message. If you want to confirm that your message was seen on the List, just check one of the sites that archive us.
Do unto others as you'd have others do unto you. Please observe mailing list netiquette.
Off topic posts. This list has very few off-topic posts and almost no banter. If you absolutely can't resist an off-topic post. you can put "[OT]" in the subject line.
Speech crimes. Even if you think the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a bad law, it is a law and must be observed. If you have a problem with DRM (Digital Rights Management), take it up with the vendor. Do not ask the list how to get around DRM. List members must resist the temptation to be helpful. Providing information about circumvention is a crime. Unless you have a politician in your pocket they are unlikely to retroactively legalize anything you should not have done.
List Archives
Yahoo provides help on using the group RSS Feed here:
List archive is on the Yahoo Group home page:
The old list archive starting with January 1, 2000 is on the MARC
and also at the Mail Archive.
Privacy Policy
The e-mail addresses of list subscribers will not be released or used for any non-list related purpose.
The list archives do their best to strip email addresses from the archived posts, but are probably not perfect.
Nothing you post to the list should be considered private. It will be immediately sent to 100s of people and they will forward it to others. Your post will be archived permanently in several Internet archives. Search engines will index your words. You will be quoted in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. There is no way to take things back.
Calmness
If you think someone has egregiously offended you, please watch the fish for a while and think calm thoughts.
It is probably not as bad as you now think it is. Inhale. Exhale.