Email lists

The Cam Phil nowadays makes considerable use of email, both for members and also for sending announcements to anybody else who is interested in our activities and forthcoming concerts.

The various Cam Phil mailing lists are all run by automated software (called Majordomo), which frees us from what would otherwise be a considerable administrative load. The notes on this page are intended to explain how you can effectively manage your own subscription(s), by sending special email messages to Majordomo. However, if you have difficulty, please do contact the list manager at majordomo-owner@cam-phil.org.uk.

NOTE: the email addresses here and elsewhere on the web site are usually shown as clickable links. If you use an email application, they should cause a new draft message to open in your application. However, if you use webmail (such as GMail or Hotmail), this might not work properly, in which case you should copy and paste the email address.

Joining a list (“subscribe”)

To join a list, you first need to send a blank email to the appropriate subscription address:

List name		Subscribe address	Majordomo command
chorus-members	Chorus members announcements	chorus-members-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	subscribe chorus-members
orchestra-members	Orchestra members announcements	orchestra-members-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	subscribe orchestra-members
musgo	Selected news about other musical organisations and events	musgo-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	subscribe musgo
social	Unofficial announcements and discussion	social-subscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	subscribe social

As an alternative to sending a blank email, you can send the instruction in the last column above in the body of an email to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk. This is particularly useful if you want to join more than one mailing list at the same time.

When you send your initial request (using either method), Majordomo will respond with a message containing a confirmation token: you must follow the instructions in that message, to verify that your email address is working and that it really was you who sent the request. In general, any request to Majordomo requires confirmation before it can succeed, and that confirmation is as simple as hitting reply and sending the one-word message “accept”. Make sure you do not change the subject line, though, otherwise Majordomo won’t know which token you’re accepting.

You will then receive a message welcoming you to the list.

Using your password

The first time you join one of our mailing lists, you will also be sent a password. You should keep the welcome message for future reference.

With your password, you can avoid almost all confirmation tokens. To do this, you must use the “Majordomo command” method, with one small addition. Make the first line of your message to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk:

default password PASSWORD

and then type whichever other command(s) you need on separate lines after that.

If you need a reminder of your password, send the one-line message

password-show

to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk.

Leaving a list (“unsubscribe”)

To leave a list, the process is almost identical: you need to send a blank email to the appropriate unsubscription address:

List name	Unsubscribe address	Majordomo command
chorus-members	chorus-members-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	unsubscribe chorus-members
orchestra-members	orchestra-members-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	unsubscribe orchestra-members
musgo	musgo-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	unsubscribe musgo
social	social-unsubscribe@cam-phil.org.uk	unsubscribe social

In most cases, you will then need to return a confirmation token.

If you can read email sent to the subscribed address, but cannot send email using it (eg. if your old email address still works, but only as a redirection to a new address), then you can still unsubscribe, by sending the one-line message

unsubscribe LISTNAME <your old email address>

to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk (use the appropriate list name, of course). You can send this message from anywhere, provided you quote the email address you want to unsubscribe. You must still look out for the confirmation token (which will be sent to the old email address), and return it.

If you no longer have access to the old email address at all, then you won’t of course be receiving any email from us. In this case, please still tell us, so that we can update our records.

Changing your address

If you change your address, you can just unsubscribe and then re-subscribe with your new address. It is much better, though (especially if you have joined more than one list!) to use the single-step “changeaddr” command. To do this, using your new address, send the one-line message

changeaddr <your old email address>

to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk. You must do this before your old email address is switched off, since you need to return a confirmation token from both the old and new accounts.

If you quote your password, ie. if you send the two lines

default password PASSWORD
changeaddr <your old email address>

then the first confirmation isn’t needed, which means you don’t need to have access to the old account, although you will still need to confirm the new address.

Problems?

• If you don’t get a reply almost immediately to your request, or when you send in a confirmation token, then it may be that your email program has messed up the subject line or the reply address. In particular, addresses with the word “owner” in them are always wrong (they are intended for contacting the list manager, or for detecting bounced messages), but some email programs tend to choose these incorrectly when you hit reply. See also the next point.

• If you believe you have successfully subscribed, but you don’t then receive any messages when other people have done, or if you are not seeing any messages from Majordomo at all, then it may be due to an over-zealous “anti-spam” filter. If you or your email provider (ISP) run any kind of filter, you may have to tell it about the Cam Phil mailing list, otherwise any messages you receive may be rejected or consigned to the “junk” folder. Note that, in common with most other email lists, messages from us are sent with a variety of “one-time” sender addresses (a method known as “VERP”), so you may have particular difficulty if you have a filter which junks messages from anyone who is not in your address book – there is no one single address which you can add.

  There is unfortunately nothing we can do about this at our end, and if you cannot find a way to allow our messages through your junk filter then your only option may be to switch to a different ISP which has a different filtering policy. Please, however, let us know so that we can compile a list of “list-unfriendly” ISPs to warn other people!

  If you want to check that your subscription is OK, send the single word “show” in the body of a message to majordomo@cam-phil.org.uk. A complete summary of everything Majordomo knows about you will be sent back straight away (so if that reply doesn’t arrive, you definitely need to check for a filter getting in the way!).

• If you are really stuck, you can contact the list manager at majordomo-owner@cam-phil.org.uk.