Biling-Fam Mailing List Help
How do I subscribe to biling-fam?
How do I unsubscribe
from biling-fam?
How do I post to biling-fam?
What should I do if I don't
want to get mail temporarily?
What is the digest version
and how do I get it?
Why aren't my posts getting
through to the list?
What should I do if the
automatic commands don't work?
I posted to biling-fam, and I
got an e-mail saying my mail was blocked by a spam filter! What
happened?
Is biling-fam only for parents
of bilingual families?
What are all these
abbreviations - ML, ml, OPOL, etc?
To subscribe to the normal version of biling-fam, send an empty e-mail
message to biling-fam-subscribe@nethelp.no.
To subscribe to the digest version of biling-fam, send an empty e-mail
message to biling-fam-digest-subscribe@nethelp.no.
You do not need to write anything more. The software that runs the
mailing list will only look at the address the message comes from.
To unsubscribe from the normal version of biling-fam, send an empty
e-mail message to biling-fam-unsubscribe@nethelp.no.
To unsubscribe from the digest version of biling-fam, send an empty
e-mail message to biling-fam-digest-unsubscribe@nethelp.no.
You do not need to write anything more. The software that runs the
mailing list will only look at the address the message comes from.
To post to biling-fam, send your e-mail to biling-fam@nethelp.no.
Only e-mails from currently subscribed addresses will be
posted. If you have several addresses, please make sure to send
from the address that is subscribed to the list. Non-subscribers
won't be able to post at all. This is to prevent spam and other
unwanted e-mail from clogging up the list.
If you don't want to get mail from the list temporarily, say because
you'll be travelling, you must unsubscribe from the list and then
subscribe again when you return. Unfortunately the software used to
run the list does not have a "no mail" function or similar.
Normally subscribers receive each message sent to the list
individually, a short time after it is posted. Some subscribers find
this means they receive too much e-mail, particularly on very busy
days when the list has topped 100 posts!
The digest version is an alternative for subscribers who would prefer
fewer, though longer, mail messages. All the messages sent to the
list during one day are sent out as one large message, called a
digest, at a regular time each day. (On very busy days, two digests
may be sent.)
If you would prefer to receive the digest version of biling-fam,
please follow the instructions for subscribing above. If you are
already subscribed to the normal version of biling-fam, you will also
need to unsubscribe from that. You don't stop getting the
normal version of biling-fam when you subscribe to the digest version!
There are two common reasons for posts to the list to be rejected.
First, the post may have been sent from an address that is not
currently subscribed to the list. Make sure you're sending from the
same address you used to subscribe. If you no longer want to post
from that address, you will need to unsubscribe from that address and
subscribe from the new address you would like to use.
Second, the post may contain an attachment, or be a multi-part (MIME)
e-mail containing HTML. Because the list has had problems with
viruses inadvertently being sent around, posts to the list may not
contain attachments and must be in plain text only. Make sure your
mail reader is sent to send the message in plain text.
Yahoo's mail service (addresses ending in yahoo.com, yahoo.fr,
yahoo.se, and so on) in particular has caused many biling-fam readers
to have trouble posting. To fix this problem, go to your Yahoo
mailbox and click on the "My Account" link. This will lead you to the
Yahoo Account Information page. Look for a list of options on the
right-hand side of the page and click "Mail". This will lead you to a
new page, which should include a link marked "General Preferences".
Here you should find a list of e-mail settings. Look for the one
marked "Composing E-Mails", and select "as plain text" (rather than
"as color and graphics") below. Click save, and you should now be
able to send messages to biling-fam.
Once in a while there are problems that the software can't handle. If
this happens, please contact the list administrators at
cindy@nethelp.no or sthaug@nethelp.no.
The biling-fam mailing list does not have a spam filter. (We block
spam by only allowing subscribers to post.) However, some subscribers
do have spam filters on their mail readers. If your message contains
a word blocked by one of these filters, that subscriber may not see
your message, and you may receive an e-mail message telling you your
mail was not delivered. It did get through to biling-fam!
Anyone with an interest in childhood bilingualism is welcome to
participate on biling-fam - parents, teachers, those who themselves
grew up bilingual, and so on. However, we conceived this mailing list
as a meeting place for parents who are trying to raise their children
with two or more languages. This remains its primary mission, and we
ask members to respect that. So far this has not been a problem!
The following abbreviations are commonly used on the mailing list:
- ML - majority language - the community language, the
language spoken by those around you, not necessarily spoken in your
household.
- ml - minority language - the "other" language(s) your
family uses, a language not spoken by other members of your community
- OPOL - One Parent One Language (sometimes One Person, One
Language) - each parent speaks one language to the children
consistently. Usually each parent speaks her/his native language.
- ml@h - Minority Language At Home - everyone speaks the
minority language at home (or within the family), but uses the
majority language at work, at school, and in the community.
In addition, you will find some list member use popular Internet
abbreviations like LOL ("laughing out loud"), DH ("dear husband"),
YMMV ("your mileage may vary", in other words, our experience may not
be the same as yours), etc. Many other web pages list these
abbreviations; enter the phrase "Internet abbreviations" into your
favorite search engine for examples.
Many people use a signature file that includes the majority and
minority languages they use, the pattern they use at home, and the
names and ages of their children. It might look something like this:
Aloysius Smith, father of John (5) and Mary (3)
ML
Klingon, ml Sindarin Elvish, using ml@h
...meaning that Aloysius lives in a Klingon-speaking community, and
his family speaks a minority language, namely Sindarin, in their home.
There's no requirement to use a signature like this, but other readers
will find it helpful if you do, or if you remind them of your family's
languages and other details when you ask a question or share your
experiences.
return
to the Bilingual Families home page
flodnak.com
Created 5 March 2006 * Last Updated 1 May 2008