SERIALST subscribers may be interested in knowing that a recent
upgrade to the LISTSERV software at UVMVM now makes it possible
for subscribers who do not have time to read large numbers of
messages as they arrive, to subscribe to a "digestified" or
"indexed" version of SERIALST.

Digests are larger messages containing all the postings made by
list subscribers over a certain period of time.  What you get,
should you chose the DIGEST option, are all the messages for a
given day <or week, or month> in a single batched message.  Based
on RFC1153 (Internet standard for Digest message formatting), all
digested messages are prefaced by a handy "Topics of the Day"
index (comprised of subject lines from the messages), as well as
info. about the number of messages, totalling the number of lines
(in all of the messages).  The "Topics of the Day" information allows
DIGEST subscribers to "pick and choose" messages that might be of
interest to them, before actually scrolling into the text of the
messages themselves.

To some degree, SERIALST's moderators already create digests by
batching messages together on similar topics, as they arrive.
This manual batching will continue, as it seems helpful and
appropriate for those who wish to get individual messages as quickly
as the moderators can post them, and also consolidates and economizes on
computer and network utilization.  The new DIGEST option simply allows
subscribers who choose it, to receive ALL messages posted to the list
over the course of a given day.  Messages that are manually digested
by the moderators will be indexed as one message by LISTSERV's new
automatic DIGEST and/or INDEX function.

The other option that subscribers might be interested in is the
INDEX option.  Indexes provide a few basic lines of information
for each posting in a given day:  the index accession number,
date, time, number of lines per message, name and address of
each poster, and subject (which, by the way, is a good reason
for those of you sending messages to SERIALST to make your subject
lines as concise and descriptive as possible!).  The INDEX option
may also be useful as a neat alternative to the NOMAIL option:
when you come back from vacation, you can peruse the the index
entries and then use the instructions and handy database search
form, provided at the bottom of the index entries, to quickly
"order" the messages you are interested in from the LISTSERV!
The easy "order" function that comes with the INDEX option is
truly remarkable!  So much so, that, rather than trying to
describe it here, I am issuing a follow-up message to this
one to demonstrate what it looks like and how it works!

Because the volume of mail on SERIALST can sometimes be "busy" or
"talkative," I have opted to keep the default for batching at Daily
(as opposed to weekly or monthly).  The cut-off point for Digest
messages is set to 1500 lines (I'm not sure what happens to
Digests if we get more talkative than that in a day!).  This
is a safety measure for those with systems that cannot handle
very large messages.

Digestified or Indexed versions of SERIALST are currently distributed
once a day in the late morning or early afternoon, EST.

             How to Select the DIGEST or INDEX Option

Simply do so in the same way you change your other mail distribution
options.  Send a message to:  LISTSERV@UVMVM.UVM.EDU    or
                              LISTSERV@UVMVM.BITNET

The body of your message should read:  SET SERIALST DIGEST  or
                                       SET SERIALST INDEX

PLEASE NOTE WELL:  You can only set one mail distribution option
at a time.  If you chose the DIGEST option, you can not also chose
another option, such as INDEX, MAIL, or NOMAIL.  You cannot, for
example, be set to receive digests, and then decide to set digests
to NOMAIL.  If you wanted to halt the digests, you would send the
normal SET SERIALST NOMAIL command to the listserv.  To resume
digest delivery, you would then issue the command: SET SERIALST
DIGEST.  You have to chose one mail option that best suits your
needs at a given time.  The mail distribution options you may chose
from are:

SET SERIALST MAIL - to receive individual mail messages as they are posted
SET SERIALST NOMAIL - to stop mail from being delivered to your address
SET SERIALST DIGEST - to receive daily digests of all messages posted to
                      the list (1500 line limit)
SET SERIALST INDEX - to receive daily index summaries of mail posted
                     to the list

Remember, you can only SET one option at a time ... and the SET command
always gets sent to LISTSERV@UVMVM (or UVMVM.UVM.EDU) and not to SERIALST!

The other nice thing I'd like to mention about the recent LISTSERV
software upgrade (1.7f) is that it is faster and more efficient!  Subscribers
should start to see a faster response time in database search capabilities
(if you use them), as well as more expedient delivery of mail!

It is hoped that subscribers will benefit from these new enhancements ...
and find them useful for managing the influx of SERIALST mail.  Enjoy!!

    Birdie MacLennan
    SERIALST Listowner/Moderator    bmaclenn@uvmvm.bitnet
    University of Vermont           bmaclenn@uvmvm.uvm.edu