Are you subscribed to the VW mailing list?

[Dave Donley]

Hello All:

At MacWorld I was surprised to learn that not everyone knows that there is an email mailing list for VW users. The mailing list is another useful resource for getting help and information.

A digest of the list and archives also exist if you don't want to receive each email individually.

Here is the form to sign up:

VW List Subscribe Form

The archives are here:

VW List Archives

[ErichR]

UNBELIEVABLE the difficulty NNA has established with regard to accessing the mailing list.

Not at all surprising few have subscribed.

[Peter Huggins]

Erich,

What part do you find difficult?

[ErichR]

1) It took about ten minutes to "sign up" and it failed. Not willing to spend any more time with it.

2) The instructions are entirely cryptic. So much for communicaiton...

[ionw]

it took me ten seconds.

Clicked on Dave's link.

entered my email address and name

clicked on th Join button.

checked my email, and clicked on the link, was confirmed and received the first three messages.

Most definitely not cryptic, and not time consuming. I am sorry your experience was so problematic.

[ErichR]

Ion, did it really take less than ten seconds from the time you entered your email, got a reply, and then re-entered your name and password?

Golly, you got fast email. Where can I sign up for an account like that?

Below is the email you receive. Clicking on the first link produced an error. See below for that happened then...(another error).

I stand by my oriiginal conclusion (so much for communication).

****************************************************

Your command:

PW REP XXXXXXXX

requires confirmation. To confirm the execution of your command, simply

point your browser to the following URL:

http://lists.nemetschek.net/cgi-bin/wa.exe?OK=FC1D9851

Alternatively, if you have no WWW access, you can reply to the present

message and type "ok" (without the quotes) as the text of your message.

Just the word "ok" - do not retype the command. This procedure will work

with any mail program that fully conforms to the Internet standards for

electronic mail. If you receive an error message, try sending a new

message to LISTSERV@LISTS.NEMETSCHEK.NET (without using the "reply"

function - this is very important) and type "ok FC1D9851" as the text of

your message.

Finally, your command will be cancelled automatically if LISTSERV does

not receive your confirmation within 48h. After that time, you must start

over and resend the command to get a new confirmation code. If you change

your mind and decide that you do NOT want to confirm the command, simply

discard the present message and let the request expire on its own.

************************

ok FC1D9851

The confirmation code FC1D9851 does not correspond to any pending command. A

command can only be confirmed once, after which the confirmation code is

deleted and can no longer be used. If you are sure that you did not already

confirm this command, check the confirmation request to make sure that the

code is the correct one. Also, check your mailbox for a message with the

subject "Command confirmation request cancelled"; commands must be confirmed

within a certain time frame or they will expire. If all else fails, you can

always send the command again to get a new confirmation code.

[ 02-11-2006, 09:19 AM: Message edited by: ErichR ]

[ionw]

Yes Erich, I wasn't exagerating, I have my mail program set to check every minute. I had the browser and email client up simultaneously, and by whatever convergence of luck and circumstance, the confirmation email showed up literally a second or two after I hit the subscribe button. I clicked on the supplied link and it took me to the successfully subscribed page...no need to re-enter username and password.

For whatever reason, maybe I have a magic connection, but I encountered no errors, in either Dave's link, nor in the supplied link in the email.

Maybe I have been on many lists so the process isn't a mystery to me.

sincerely,

[Soccerkd11]

Dear god, this mailing list is the most annoying thing I have ever come across. My inbox gets flooded with 27 emails a day that have nothing to do with my knowlage of vectorworks or improving my knowlage of vectorworks. And now I have to jump through 15 different hoops to get my name OFF the list.

DON'T SIGN UP. It's not worth it.

[Don Wood - Architect]

Dear Soccerkd11. What a load of crap. It has ben ABSOLUTELY beneficial to me. What is the problem with 27 e-mails a a day. Just delete those you don't want to read. I get a hell of a lot more from some lists I subscribe too.

DO SIGN UP. It's really worth while.

[Peter Huggins]

This is a great example of where a "Rule" is so useful in your mail program. File the messages from the list in a folder and read them when you want to.

The list remains a very valuable service for VW users.

[Spunkmeyer]

There is also a "digest" format where you receive a single email message that contains all of the postings for the past 24 hours. Some may find that easier to manage than individual messages.

[td4stage]

whoa soccerkd11! 27 emails? flooded? You must not get alot of emails!!

"that have nothing to do with my knowlage of vectorworks or improving my knowlage of vectorworks"

It's your "knowlage" of things you don't know that are important! That email list has been and will probably continue to be a life saver for me! I have two words for you man...spellchecker and email rules...ok that's three words

[Christiaan]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ErichR:

UNBELIEVABLE the difficulty NNA has established with regard to accessing the mailing list.

Not at all surprising few have subscribed.

---

Okay, at first I was dubious. I've had much experience with email lists and I tried to subscribe on the basis that I was probably going to come back to you and say it wasn't unbelievably difficult but maybe unnecessarily difficult. Well I think I would have to agree that it verges more on unbelievable than unnecessary.

Having filled out the form I then received a confirmation message and clicked on the relevant link. I was then presented with a webpage that said:

quote:

---

Confirming:

> SUBSCRIBE VECTORWORKS-L Christiaan

Please supply your full name, as in "SUBSCRIBE VECTORWORKS-L Joe H. Smith".

Alternatively, if you want to subscribe anonymously, send the command:

"SUBSCRIBE VECTORWORKS-L Anonymous". Your subscription will then be hidden

automatically.

---

What this means I couldn't actually decipher easily. Does it mean I'm confirmed and subscribed? Does it mean I'm not confirmed and subscribed and that I need to start again. Or does it mean I need to send an email message with "SUBSCRIBE VECTORWORKS-L firstname lastname" in the subject box, and if so, where would I send this email? It's difficult to decipher because it uses computer language (e.g. "send the command") instead of real world language (e.g. "start again"), and blatantly incorrect language (e.g. this message I got was titled "confirming" when it should have said something like "rejected").

Anyway it turns out that I wasn't subscribed and that I had to start the process again (ironically the second attempt took less than ten seconds). The only way I found this out was to start again and see what happens.

Maybe Nemetschek would be better off investigating a new email software system (such as Mailman, for instance)?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Soccerkd11:

Dear god, this mailing list is the most annoying thing I have ever come across. My inbox gets flooded with 27 emails a day that have nothing to do with my knowlage of vectorworks or improving my knowlage of vectorworks. And now I have to jump through 15 different hoops to get my name OFF the list.

DON'T SIGN UP. It's not worth it.

---

That's the nature of email lists. I've had circumstances where I've been receiving at least 1000 emails a week from various sources. This, as surprising as it may sound, is actually a manageable amount of email. It's mostly a matter of filtering your email so as to divide it up into folders. I will admit, judging from my experience trying to subscribe, that 15 hoops to unsubscribe is probably a fair exaggeration, but none the less an exaggeration.

[ 02-22-2006, 07:19 AM: Message edited by: Christiaan ]