In the "To:" field, type: LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM
In the "Subject:" Leave the subject line blank (for AOL users, type NO SUBJECT in the subject line)
For the body of the message, type: SUBSCRIBE SHOWCARDI-L (Your Name)

To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list, just send mail to SHOWCARDI-L@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. This is called "sending mail to the list", because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV makes copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address (SHOWCARDI-L@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM) is also called the "list address". You must never try to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed to all the people who have subscribed. All commands must be sent to the "LISTSERV address", LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. It is very important to understand the difference between the two, but fortunately it is not complicated.

The LISTSERV address is like a FAX number, and the list address is like a normal phone line. If you make your FAX call someone's regular phone number by mistake, it will be an unpleasant experience for him but you will probably be excused the first time. If you do it regularly, however, he will probably get upset and send you a nasty complaint. It is the same with mailing lists, with the difference that you are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the same time, so a lot more people get annoyed if you use the wrong number.

You will be asked to renew your subscription to SHOWCARDI-L every 6 months. You will have 14 days to send in your renewal, after which time you will be dropped from the list.

You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF SHOWCARDI-L" command to LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. You can also tell LISTSERV how you want it to confirm the receipt of messages you send to the list. The system is set up initially to send you a copy of your own messages, so that you can see that the message was distributed and did not get damaged on the way. After a while you may find that this is getting annoying, especially if your mail program does not tell you that the message is from you when it informs you that new mail has arrived from SHOWCARDI-L. If you send a "SET SHOWCARDI-L ACK NOREPRO" command, LISTSERV will mail you a short acknowledgment instead, which will look different in your mailbox directory. With most mail programs you will know immediately that this is an acknowledgment you can read later. Finally, you can turn off acknowledgments completely with "SET SHOWCARDI-L NOACK NOREPRO".

Here are some other commands you will find useful. For all of them, you must send email to LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. Leave the subject line blank (for AOL users, type NO SUBJECT in the subject line) and put the appropriate command in the body of the message. Do not type anything after the commands. If you have a signature file, disable that feature before sending your message or your commands may not take effect. Type only the words which are not enclosed in parentheses.

SET SHOWCARDI-L DIGESTS You will stop receiving each message at the time it is sent to the List, and instead you will receive a daily log from the List containing all the individual messages. This command will not effect your ability to send messages. You will still be able to post at any time.

SET SHOWCARDI-L NOMAIL Temporarily suspends your subscription while you are on vacation, busy, etc. This command may also be used to postpone delivery of digests. Please do not use this option indefinitely. Unsubscribe if you are no longer interested in receiving SHOWCARDI-L mail.

SET SHOWCARDI-L MAIL Resumes your temporarily suspended mail, whether individual or digests.

SET SHOWCARDI-L DUALHDR Some subscribers use mail programs that only show SHOWCARDI-L as the sender of any message to the List. Since people are notorious about not signing their names to their messages, this can cause a lot of confusion in trying to decide who is saying what, and can make it impossible to send mail privately. If you send this command to LISTSERV, it will duplicate key elements of the original message within the message itself so it is apparent who sent it.

Windows95 and MS Exchange cause problems on the list unless they are configured correctly. If you are using MSExchange, the built-in mail program that came with WIN95, be sure that you change the "properties" for the list's address in your "Personal Address Book" to be sure that you do not send mail in "Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format". To do this, double click on the address, and unclick on the box that says "Always Send To This Recipient In Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format."

This will eliminate the WINMAIL.DAT file garbage that sometimes appears at the end of messages. This file contains the font type and color information and other things that can corrupt other mail readers.

You also need to turn off RTF and MIME.

If you are using any other kind of a mail program, it is just good form to be sure that the mail program is sending out mail in "text only" format, as many people don't have a GUI (Graphical User Interface) based reader.