ModusVarious E-mail List Information

This page contains information regarding the ModusVarious e-mail list server. If you have any questions that are not answered here, please contact .

To subscribe, send an email to one of the following "main" lists with "SUBSCRIBE [listname]" in the body (clicking the link in the list below should open a message in your email program). The subject line doesn't matter. You will get a confirmation message, which you must respond to to be subscribed.

List Address	List Name and description	Subscribe Link
CAoL@ModusVarious.com	"Callahanian Army of Light": the main IC list
PAI@ModusVarious.com	"Pulp Adventures Inc.": the non-CAoL pulp game
AAE@ModusVarious.com	"Action, Adventure, Excitement": the main non-CAoL, non-power-level specific discussion list

After you're on a "main" list, you can subscribe to whichever of the other lists you want in a similar fashion. The available lists are:

List Address	List Name and description	Subscribe Link
GR.CAoL@ModusVarious.com	"CAoL Green Room": OOC discussions
FD.CAoL@ModusVarious.com	"CAoL First Drafts": for checking a post with others before sending it "live"
SO.CAoL@ModusVarious.com	"CAoL Spin Off List": for IC stories that aren't part of the main adventure, and so probably won't end up in the archives
TR.CAoL@ModusVarious.com	"CAoL Tech Room": for conversations that get into the details that only wonks are interested it, whether the subject is comics, computers, or quantum physics
Risque.CAoL@ModusVarious.com	"CAoL Risque List Adult Only": IC or OOC, posts that have sexual content that might offend the sensitive
BILLS.CAoL@ModusVarious.com	"CAoL BillBoard": for political and other potentially problematic posts
GR.PAI@ModusVarious.com	"PAI Green Room": OOC posts for the pulp game
IC.AAE@ModusVarious.com	"AAE In Character List": IC posts for non-power-level-specific stories
PH.AAE@ModusVarious.com	"Pulp Hero's IC": for stories with roughly human-level abilities, not necessarily "pulp"
SH.AAE@ModusVarious.com	"Super Hero IC List": for stories with roughly superhuman-level abilities, not necessarily "super heroes"
CA.AAE@ModusVarious.com	"Cosmic Adventures": for stories with cosmically-powered characters of whatever genre

Note for Yahoo users: If you are subscribing a Yahoo address, you must subscribe to a main list from the webmail interface at Yahoo.com. Anything addressed to from a Yahoo address must come from the Yahoo webmail interface, or it will just silently vanish. The above links for subscribing to the sublists, and posts to the lists, do not require the webmail interface.

Once you've subscribed, you may send a "Help" message to find out the other options available. The following commands are recognized by the mail server at this site. For all the commands shown, please ensure that the commands start hard against the left-hand margin of your mail message - do not indent them.

HELP: - Takes no parameters, returns this text.
SUBSCRIBE <list-name> or SUB <list-name>: - Asks Maiser to add you to a mailing list. If the list is not a public list, you will receive an error message.
UNSUBSCRIBE <list-name> or SIGNOFF <list-name> or UNSUB <list-name>: - Asks Maiser to remove your address from a mailing list.
SET <list-name> DIGEST: - Receive your messages as "digests" (occasional messages containing all the mail received for the list over a period of time).
SET <list-name> VACATION x: - Stop receiving mail from the list for "x" days. Change the "x" to the proper number of days. The list server will automatically re-enable your subscription at the end of the period.
SET <list-name> NOMAIL: - Stop receiving mail from the list for an indefinite period.
SET <list-name> MAIL: - Start receiving mail from the list again.
BOUNCE: - Takes no parameters - returns your message to you, headers intact.
ENUMERATE <list-name> or REVIEW <list-name>: - Asks the maiser to send you the current subscribers to the list. Enumeration of the list may be restricted on a list- by-list basis unless you are a list moderator.
LIST: - Shows all the mailing lists available at this site.
FINGER <address>: - Returns mail-specific information about the specified address if it is local. The information returned may contain the user's FULL NAME, whether or not mail is enabled or forwarded, and whether mail reading will be confirmed. Also returns the contents of the file PROFILE if it exists in the user's new mail directory. The FINGER command is intended to allow distribution of information such as PGP keys and contact information. This command may be disabled at some sites.
LOOKUP <string>: - Returns a list of users at this address who match the string you supply. The string may contain * and ? wildcard characters. This command may be disabled at some sites.
INDEX: - Asks the maiser for a list of files available by e-mail at this site.
SEND <filename>: - Asks the mail server to send you a file. For a list of the files available by e-mail from this site, see the INDEX command.
VERIFY <address>: - Determines whether a particular address is valid at this site.
EXIT: - Terminates mail server command processing for a message.

The ModusVarious list server was originally created in June of 1997 for the use of the Callahanian Army of Light Play-By-E-mail game, which started in the alt.callahans usenet group. Because of this, the ability for all posts to a list (or only those with a particular character sequence in the subject line) to be automatically posted to a specified news group was included. It also picks up messages posted to that group with the specified character sequence (the CAoL list uses "AAE," because the thread was originally titled "Action, Adventure, Excitement") and posts them to the list, so that list members don't have to access usenet to see these posts.

As the game progressed, we found ourselves needing sub-lists. A Green Room for "backstage" discussions was one of the first, and several others were added as time went on. The service is not restricted to the CAoL game, however.