BIOTELEM mail list web page

CONTENTS

1) General
2) Subscription
3) Posting messages
4) Archives
5) Unsubscribing from BIOTELEM
6) List of Telemetry equipment manufacturers andsuppliers
7) Commercial companies
8) If you ever get deleted from the list
9) Security measures
10) Help

1) GENERAL
The list is intended to facilitate communication between users ofbiotelemetry, wildlife telemetry, passive transpondents (PIT tags) andsimilar devices. Topics that may be discussed include techniques,problems, solutions, conceptual issues, data analysis, questions orrequests for information, etc.
There are more than 500 subscribers to BIOTELEM, and replies to queriesget sent through the list, or directly to the originator of thequestion. Subscribers that receive interesting replies off the list arerequested to post a digest or a brief summary of these messages, for thebenefit of other readers that might be interested in the topic.

2) SUBSCRIPTION
There are two option for susbcription:A. BY E-MAIL
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the list server:listserv@listserv.ac.il
with an empty subject line and with one line in the body of the message:
subscribe biotelem Your_First_name Your_Last_name
(replace your name in the appropriate place).
B. THROUGH THE WEB
You can subscribe to the list also through BIOTELEM's archivespageon the list server at: http://listserv.ac.il/archives/biotelem.html.

NEW PROCEDURES IN THE SUBSCRIPTION:
Subscription is not fully automatic anymore:the new subscriber sends the subscription request as usual to theserver, but the request to subscribe needs to get approved before it isaccepted by the server. This may take a day or two until I see thecurrent requests and deal with them, but normally not more than that(unless I am travelling overseas). This procedurehas been introduced to increase the security of our system.If you get rejected or do not get the confirmation ofsubscription after several days, please send an e-mail messagedirectly to me ( bouskila@bgu.ac.il).

3) POSTING MESSAGES
To post a message on BIOTELEM (it will automatically reach allsubscribers of the list) you have to send it to the following address:
biotelem@listserv.ac.il
Only subscribers to BIOTELEM maypost messages.
Subscribers to the list may post messages also through BIOTELEM's archives pageon the list server at: http://listserv.ac.il/archives/biotelem.html Depending on the settings of your subscription, you will or will not geta copy of the message back to you (you can change the setting throughthis web page).

4) ARCHIVES
The list has been running since Jan 1995. Subscribers to BIOTELEM canview all submissionsfrom the past through the web (after logging-in by their email addressanda password that they will have to choose) at: http://listserv.ac.il/archives/biotelem.html
The archives have a very powerful search engine that scans all themessages that were ever posted through the list. The results can be sortedby several convenient ways (date, author, etc.)

5) UNSUBSCRIBING FROM BIOTELEMM
To remove yourself from the list, you should send a message with thefollowing line:
signoff biotelem
to the list server address (listserv@bgu.listserv.ac.il).
You can unsubscribe from the list also through BIOTELEM's archivespageon the list server at:http://listserv.ac.il/archives/biotelem.html.

6) LIST OF TELEMETRY EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS ANDSUPPLIERS
To avoid cluttering BIOTELEM with messages asking for an address ore-mail of a telemetry equipment supplier, please consult the web sitemaintained by the Illinois Natural History Survey that currently listsmore than 40 companies with useful address information:
http://nhsbig.inhs.uiuc.edu/wes/equipment_suppliers.html
The site is constantly updated, so if you have any corrections,additions, and comments please send them to rdiehl@uiuc.edu

7) COMMERCIAL COMPANIES
Commercial firms, producing or distributing products useful to users oftelemetry, may join the mail list. However, they should take intoconsideration that the list is not intended for advertisements. Whilerepresentatives of such firms are welcome to join discussions andcontribute from their experience and knowledge, they should refrain fromsending over BIOTELEM messages that advertise their products or theirservices. Some messages from such firms are on the border betweenacceptable and unacceptable; firms representatives may send such messagesto the list manager (bouskila@bgu.ac.il)to ask for approval.Note however, that individual subscribers, who have no financial benefitin any firm, are entitled to post information / evaluations / positive ornegative experiences with specific products etc. with manufacturer'saddress and contact information, as long as they keep to reasonable taste(e.g., no flames, please).
BIOTELEM is an unmoderated list, but so far, this system of askingsubscribers for their cooperation in this regard has worked fairly well.

8) IF YOU EVER GET DELETED FROM THE LIST
On certain occasions, a few addresses of BIOTELEM subscribers couldnot receive e-mail from some reason. As a consequence, some of theseaddresses were deleted from our mailist either automatically by theserver, or by me. This is nothing personal, but we can't keep receivingdozens of error message every day. If the problem is corrected, everyoneis welcome to subscribe again.

9) SECURITY MEASURES
As every user of e-mail must have noticed, during the last few years therehasbeen an increase injunk e-mails in everybody's mail boxes, where people send youunsolicited advertisements for all kind of servicesand products. This problem is notgoing to be solved from here, but subscribersto the BIOTELEM mailist can rest assured that their e-mail address isnot available to those companies/individuals that collect e-mailaddresses from mailing lists and sell them. Several measures have beentaken to prevent this,and these include: people that are not subscribed to BIOTELEM cannotpost messages on the list; subscription is not automatic: any personrequesting to subscribe needs to get approved first (see newsubscription procedures below); and most important, no one has access tothe list of e-mail addresses of the subscribers. These measures have been implementeda couple of years ago; so if you keep getting junk e-mail - ithas nothing to do with your subscription to BIOTELEM.

10) HELP
A. Information on LISTSERV commands can be found in the LISTSERVreference card, which you can retrieve by sending an "INFO REFCARD"command to the server (listserv@listserv.ac.il).
Another option is to look at: http://www.lsoft.com/resources/manuals.asp

B. Problems with BIOTELEM and its server should be directed to the listmanager, Amos Bouskila, at:bouskila@bgu.ac.il

Other WWW sites of interest to users of telemetrycan be found at the web page about wildlife telemetry sponsored by Cam Grant http://www.biotelem.org

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