Re: CSA and sanet-mg archives (fwd)

Lawrence F. London, Jr. (london@sunsite.unc.edu)
Sun, 14 Jul 1996 00:51:45 -0400 (EDT)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 13:46:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andy Clark, SAN Coordinator <san@nal.usda.gov>
To: D J Dietz <djdietz@globaldialog.com>
Cc: CrisCarusi@aol.com, sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu
Subject: Re: CSA and sanet-mg archives

On Sat, 13 Jul 1996, D J Dietz wrote:

> I am new to this list and enjoying it very much so far. What I am wondering
> is the following;
> 1. Is there any way to search the past post to
> this list for a particular subject?
>
> 2. Do CSA farming issues ever get discussed on
> this list?

Dan, and SANetters:

CSA's have been discussed quite a bit on sanet-mg, and are an appropriate
topic for the list.

You can access the archives of all sanet messages ever posted in three
ways: 1) by using the almanac server which is located at NCSU;
2) via gopher
3) on the SAN/SARE Home page

I'll explain each below.

1) NCSU ALMANAC

WARNING: ANYONE WHO SENDS ALMANAC COMMANDS TO THE WHOLE GROUP WILL BE
MYSTERIOUSLY SUBSCRIBED TO direct-mkt! SEND ALMANAC COMMANDS TO ALMANAC,
NOT TO THE WHOLE GROUP.

Almanac is the computer software on which sanet-mg runs. Any
messages sent to almanac@ces.ncsu.edu (like subscribe, unsubscribe, which
SHOULD be sent to almanac, not to sanet-mg) are handled automatically.
That is, you're talking to a computer which recognizes only the EXACT
command it's been told to recognize.

The information I'm providing now is included in the Almanac Users
Guide. You can get this guide by sending a message to:

almanac@ces.ncsu.edu

In the BODY of the message, type ONLY:

send guide

You can get from almanac a list of EVERY message ever sent to sanet-mg!
There were 5000 messages as of the end of 1995 (from October 1, 1991).
The catalog comes in blocks of about 500 messages if you request it from
almanac, and it takes about 100 pages to print out. IN OTHER WORDS, it's
a HUGE document, broken up into about ten VERY LARGE DOCUMENTS. Be careful,
some systems may not be able to handle them.

To get the listing of all sanet messages ever posted, send a message to:

almanac@ces.ncsu.edu

In the BODY of the message type ONLY:

send sanet-mg catalog

The catalog has one line per message, with message NUMBER., DATE, SENDER
and SUBJECT.
You can then request individual messages by sending a message to almanac
(requesting message number 4399) that says:

send sanet-mg 4399

and you would get a copy of message number 4399.

This method is cumbersome, but may be of interest to anyone wanting to do
a comprehensive study of messages sent to sanet!

2) Gopher

If you've learned to use gopher, you can gopher to:
gopher.ces.ncsu.edu

If you've never been to this site, there's lots of good SAN information
at the site. Look around while you're visiting.

Choose #6, National CES Information.
Choose #4, National Mail Groups.
Choose #5, sanet-mg.

You are prompted for seach term(s). Type in a word or words, and the
gopher returns a menu of mail messages that contain some or all of your
search words. I just did that using the term CSA and got the maximum 40
hits. This limit of 40 hits also limits the usefulness of the gopher for
doing a comprehensive search of the archives.

Here's part of what I pulled up from the gopher search
using 'CSA' as a search term:

Search Sustainable Ag. Mailist (sanet-mg): CSA

1. Unknown Subject
2. Eric D Nash <ednS94@hamp.hampshire.edu>
--> 3. G410764694 Re: Community Supported Agriculture
4. Eric D Nas Re: ?: veg.prodution list
5. gsnelson@c Re: Madison CSA Cookbook
6. ehansen@ga Re: Biodynamic Association CSA Conference
7. Robert Ste Re: CSA info desired
8. "Zbynek Ul Re: CSA -literature needed
9. Tom Wall < Re: Another Madison CSA ......
10. caingels@u Re: ANNOUNCE: Internship
11. Melissa A Re: looking for CSA grants
12. Marc Safle Re: Another Madison CSA Cookbook Question
13. kellyd@ext Re: Upcoming Event
14. Colehour A Re: Community Supported Agriculture
15. Farmer to Re: Re: CSAs

You can then select and read the messages, mail them to yourself or
others, etc.

By far the best technology for searching sanet-mg archives is to check
out the SAN/SARE home page at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/san/

3) SAN/SARE Home Page on the WWW

All messages ever posted to sanet-mg are now available on the SAN/SARE
home page at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/san/

This page is still under construction, and has not yet been announced
publicly (until now!).

Select the button or the text link for sanet-mg archives, and you'll be
able to search packets of 500 messages, or you can search the entire
database (takes a bit of time, not too long). You can also just start
reading.

--- This is what you'll see when you get to the archives, which are at
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/san/htdocs/hypermail/hypermail.html

Select A SAN Mail Log:

Starting: Mon 03 Jun 1996 - 00:00:-10034 EDT
Ending: Sat 13 Jul 1996 - 00:00:-75988 EDT
Search Engine for the Above Mail Log

Starting: Wed 17 Apr 1996 - 00:00:-42361 EDT
Ending: Mon 03 Jun 1996 - 00:00:-14010 EDT
Search Engine for the Above Mail Log

etc...
-----

Messages can be sorted by date, by thread (or topic of discussion), or by
author (once you're in a mail log, or have executed a search). It's
powerful.

However, it has some kinks. For example, below is some of what I
retrieved when I used CSA as a search term. Two of the 'hits' do not
apply to CSA's. You'll see when you go into any message that included in
that message is a link to the NEXT and the PREVIOUS messages sent to
sanet, and, in the case of the 'bad hits', the next or previous message was
about CSA's! Try it, you'll find your way around, or I'll be glad to
offer assistance (san@nal.usda.gov).

mbox-14: Farmers' Market-based CSA?
mbox-14: Two New FWS Servers and Redesigned Service Home Page (fwd)
mbox-14: Re: DIRECT-MKT: Re: Farmers' Market-Based CSA?
mbox-14: Job at CSA
mbox-14: Farmers' Market-Based CSA?
mbox-14 by author
etc...
-------------

So, for those of you who made it to the end of this very long post, you've
gotten an unofficial announcement of the SAN Home Page. Official
announcement coming on sanet in a couple of weeks, just after the SAN
Committee meets in Burlington, VT in late July to discuss the home page,
our plans for publications in the coming year, progress on this year's
projects, and more.

I'll be glad to help anyonw with any of these applications, and
Happy surfing!

Andy Clark, Ph.D.
SAN Coordinator
c/o AFSIC, Room 304
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Ave.
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
PH: 301-504-6425
FAX: 301-504-6409
san@nal.usda.gov
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/san/

On Sat, 13 Jul 1996, D J Dietz wrote:

> I am new to this list and enjoying it very much so far. What I am wondering
> is the following;
> 1. Is there any way to search the past post to
> this list for a particular subject?
>
> 2. Do CSA farming issues ever get discussed on
> this list?
>
> 3. Does any one know of a list serveer that
> deals with only CSA (or possiblely market
> gardening)?
>
> Thank You for any help
> Dan Dietz Reedsburg Wisconsin
>