Eleven FAQ's About comp.databases.informix and informix-list@iiug.org

Eleven FAQ's About comp.databases.informix and informix-list@iiug.org ===================================================================== Last Update $Date: 2005/06/28 20:41:20 $ The comp.databases.informix news group is intended to be the primary news group for discussing how to use the IBM Informix database products. FAQ 1 - What is the informix-list@iiug.org mailing list? -------------------------------------------------------- The informix-list@iiug.org mailing list is a bi-directional gateway to the comp.databases.informix (c.d.i) UseNet news group. Messages posted to the news group are forwarded by mail to subscribers of the mailing list; responses sent to the informix-list@iiug.org email address are also posted to the news group; and the gateway manages to keep track of things so that postings do not repeat themselves. The mailing list is 'closed' in that you cannot post directly to the list unless you also subscribe to the list. However, you can always post to the news group instead; that is fully open and unmoderated. The service is provided by the International Informix User Group, IIUG, with the web site http://www.iiug.org/. The IIUG web site also has a software repository with a lot of useful information in it -- check it out. The IIUG also provides a number of other mailing list services to IIUG members; details are available at the IIUG web site. As of 2005-05-13, the official home of the Informix FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list is at: * http://www.smooth1.co.uk/pages/smooth1_my-bulldog_com/ifaq/informix.htm The FAQ list is maintained by David Williams, whose (anti-spammed) email address is david at smooth1.co.uk and has been updated during May 2005. If you have suggestions to make, please send them to David. There is another site with a simpler URL which provides a link to a mirrored copy of the official home of the Informix FAQ, and also provides you with the opportunity to customize the FAQ to meet your needs: * http://www.informixfaq.com/ This is run by Paul Watson of Oninit (http://www.oninit.com/). FAQ 2 - How Can I Subscribe To comp.databases.informix by Email --------------------------------------------------------------- In order to subscribe to the Informix List (informix-list@iiug.org), you must be a member of IIUG. Membership is free. Go to the IIUG web site, http://www.iiug.org, to join and subscribe. If you are already a member of IIUG, you need your membership number, name and email address to log into the member area. Go to the web site and then to the Member Area to update your profile. If you don't know your membership number, there is a link on the login screen to have it emailed to you. Finally, if you can't obtain your member information, send an email to webmaster at iiug.org (anti-spammed). Once in the member area, click on the "Subscribe" button. There will be a list of email discussion groups including informix-list. Also visit http://www.iiug.org/ver1/resources/forums_top.html for more information. FAQ 3 - How Can I Unsubscribe From informix-list@iiug.org --------------------------------------------------------- Visit the IIUG web site once more, login to the the member area as above, and use the Subscribe button. This will show you the list of email discussion groups that are available, and you can unsubscribe yourself by removing the check-mark against the "informix-list" entry. FAQ 4 - What else do I need to know about this? ----------------------------------------------- When you subscribe to informix-list@iiug.org, you should expect to receive 20-50 emails per day from the news group. Currently, there is no digest service. A digest service would accumulate the messages over the course of a day (or part of a day) and then send out a single large email message to the digest subscribers. FAQ 5 - What Rules Exist Regarding Format, Content, Flame Wars, etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------- None; this is a news group! That is, there are no rules enforced by the software. There are periodically discussions on c.d.i about what should and should not be said. This is my FAQ, so it gets my spin on the rules that should be followed. * Format: HTML postings are strongly discouraged; so are MIME postings. Both cause problems with many frequently used news readers. That means that attachments aren't encouraged either. Also, sending the same information twice, once in HTML and once in plain text, is downright wasteful. * Smart Questions: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html If you've not read it, please do so - it is well written, and people respond better to 'smart' questions. Google is your friend. And the manuals are available online in HTML and for download in PDF (and HTML) - URLs below. * Content: straight technical answers to questions don't need any special treatment. When the subject under discussion changes sufficiently that the subject is no longer accurate, it is courteous to change the subject. The standard, time-honoured NetNews technique is "New Subject (was: Old Subject)". There is a strong tendency for discussions in c.d.i to veer from the technical into jocular commentary, often about the participants. It is courteous to change the thread subject when you do this, and the standard method used in most news groups is to add 'OT' to indicate 'off-topic' content. Marking off-topic messages makes it easier for those who don't want to read the banter to avoid it. If you feel compelled to put technical content into a thread currently marked off-topic, remove the tag. * Quoting Posts: when you respond to a post, please trim as much of the quoted material as possible. However, do include enough of the question to ensure that your answer is comprehensible. Leave out the signature blocks (especially the obnoxiously irrelevant ones about how you should not abuse this message if it was sent to you in error) and any superfluous content. Be careful about misattributing information to the wrong poster. * Top Posting: Alf P Steinbach's signature block (which, he says, he got from someone else, who said they got it from someone else again) sums it up beautifully: A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is it such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail? Using Lotus Notes is not really an excuse for top posting. * Versions: it is usually helpful to include platform and version information for the software you are using. For example: Sun Solaris 9, IDS 10.00.UC1, CSDK 2.90.UC1. Please include all the information after the second dot (UC1, UC2X3, etc); lots of engine crashes and language problems are version specific and most are fixed in later releases. With Linux, both the version of the kernel and the version of the GLIBC library are relevant. It is often helpful to identify 64-bit hardware. * Flame Wars: Don't! Fo