PrintShare/PrintOwners FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions)

I tried subscribing but got a message that there was "no such list." How come?

You probably misspelled the name of the list, or included a space or punctuation mark where it didn't belong. The subscription commands must be followed precisely -- remember you're talking to a computer, and computers don't understand "please" or "thank you" very well. The exact syntax for subscribing to each list is explained on the Lists page.

I suddenly began receiving messages as digests...what happened?

You probably haven't checked your mail for awhile, your mailbox filled up, and your mail began bouncing (was returned to sender, in this case the List Manager). Or your mail may have started bouncing for some other reason. Rather than immediately unsubscribe you, you were switched to digests to give you a chance to eliminate whatever caused the bounces, and meanwhile reduce the number of bounced messages that the List Manager has to handle. If your messages continue bouncing for more than a couple of days, you may be unsubscribed and will need to subscribe again to the lists after you've remedied the problem.

Instructions to switch back to regular messages are at the top of each digest you receive. For more info on digests, go to the Digests page.

My message to the list bounced, and I got a message saying I wasn't a subscriber. But I get all the list messages -- why?

Messages submitted to the lists must be sent from exactly the same address under which you subscribed. This is for your protection and to ensure no spam goes through the list. If you wish to submit messages from more than one address, it can be arranged...e-mail the List Manager for details.

My message to the list bounced, and I got a message saying there was an attachment. Why?

Messages submitted to the lists must be submitted as plain text -- no HTML formatting is allowed, and no v-card attachments, or any other kinds of attachments. You will need to go into your e-mail settings and make sure HTML is turned off and/or plain text only is turned on.

I use Outlook Express; how do I set it for plain text instead of HTML formatting?

In MS Outlook Express, go to the Tools menu, select Options, click on the "Send" tab, and check Plain Text.

How many subscribers are there?

Subscribers come and go every day, but as of 2/8/99 PrintShare had grown to 428 subscribers, there were 341 subscribers to PrintOwners, and 319 subscribers to PrintSwap. We have subscribers from at least 47 of the 50 states, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands Antilles, and New Zealand.

How long have the lists been around?

PrintOwners officially opened for business over a year ago -- November 22, 1997. PrintShare, founded by George Croft, has been around several years, and has been managed and hosted by PrintWeb since November 22, 1997. PrintSwap was founded on March 31, 1998.

Who manages the lists?

The List Manager for all of the PrintWeb Group mailing lists is Bob Bergey, who works with the PrintWeb Group Advisory Board including George Croft (founder of PrintShare), Doug Shelton, Larry Nebel, Hal Wendt, and Shirley Hattayer. Major decisions are made by consensus of these six, who do so via their own private mailing list separately from PrintShare/PrintOwners/PrintSwap.

Bob has founded and operated mailing lists for several years. He began with a very active list that he still operates on political and other issues in his local community. And, of course, he is the owner of a printing business (linked on the PrintOwners Web Sites page).

Bob's home office (see photo above) is a little neater than his "real" office <G>. Shown in the photo is his Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh from which he monitors the lists when at home.

Who pays the costs of operating the lists and the Web site?

All services and time for operating PrintShare, PrintOwners, and PrintSwap are donated by the List Manager and the Advisory Board, who see it as their contribution to the printing industry as a whole. There is no advertising or sponsorship of the lists directly, nor is any sought.

In January 1999, the PrintOwners Archives went online with access to all past messages on the PrintOwners list. The fees charged for those who wish to have access to the archives (PrintOwners subscribers only) do help the List Manager justify the increasing time commitment required as the lists have grown. Also in January 1999 the PrintWeb Bookstore opened in association with Amazon.com; a small commission is received on books ordered through the PrintWeb site. And in February 1999, banner ads were made available to help support this growing Web site, allowing us to continue expanding services to the list subscribers.

I'm curious about the mechanics of the list...

The lists are served from an "ordinary" Power Macintosh G3/300. It is not dedicated to the lists -- it is the List Manager's "every day" Mac, and during the day is used for a wide variety of DTP and management applications. It is connected with a full time T-1 connection to the Internet. The list server software is Macjordomo, and mail is served with SIMS -- Stalker Internet Mail Server -- all running in the background on the same Mac. As many as 50,000 messages or more have been delivered in a single 24 hour day!

In simple terms -- your e-mail message is received by the mail server (SIMS) and put in Macjordomo's mailbox; Macjordomo takes your message, processes it by adding everyone's addresses to the message as well as header and footer lines, hands the message and addresses back to SIMS, which then sends it out over the Internet.

(Last updated 2/8/99)