Early Valiant Barracuda Club -mail list instructions

Understanding MajorDomo:

Remember that MajorDomo is completely automated. It ignores anything in the Subject: line, and will interpret commands in the Body of a message. One of the biggest tricks is knowing that it can interpret only one command per line. When you are asked to return an authorization:

Here is how MajorDomo will understand this:

Here is what happens if your mail software wraps at the end of the line. To MajorDomo, this is two commands!

The above example will work.

This example will NOT work.

However, if you insert a backslash, MajorDomo will interpret as if it were a single line. Anyone using a small editing screen will want to do this:

A single slash might be enough:

Or you could actually use a slash between each item:

This example will work.

This example will also work.

Help! What if I already ran into trouble before reading this?

Well, you'll have to try again from Step 1, initiating the subscription request. It appears that the authorization code you were given in Step 2 can be used only once, which is not a bad thing.

Further analysis, for the curious mind:

In the topmost example on the right, why wouldn't it work?

Well, MajorDomo would see the "auth" command, then the code, then the list name... and you'll notice that a very important piece of the puzzle is missing, namely "WHO is supposed to be authorized?" MajorDomo doesn't spend very long wondering about it, though. It assumes you must have been mistaken, and re-sends the request for authorization (Step 2.) So if you continue to answer your authorization requests in a way MajorDomo can't understand, it will continue to issue a new request and ask you again. And you will continue to think that you're in an endless loop, and that the system doesn't work, and probably a few more ugly thoughts... Don't do that. Life's too short.