X-Message-Number: 3467
From: whscad1!kqb (Kevin Q Brown +1 201 386 7344)
Subject: CRYONICS Update on Moving CryoNet
In message #3369 I described the reasons for moving CryoNet to
another machine. Since then I have created the Internet domain
"cryonet.org", set up my first effort toward CryoNet Web pages,
and also prepared another CryoNet mailing list with archive
retrieval capability. Although more work remains for the mailing
list and the Web pages, I would like to have some volunteers try
out the new mailing list now and give me feedback on what they
find. If all goes well, CryoNet can be moved to cryonet.org
early in 1995.
To subscribe to the new mailing list, send email to:
with the message _body_:
subscribe cryonet
(The subject line is optional.) It will send to you a reply
confirming your subscription and introducing you to the mailing list.
The introduction tells a little about cryonics and the mailing list,
how to post, how to retrieve archive files, and how to subscribe and
unsubscribe.
FYI: All messages from the current (att.com) CryoNet list are forwarded
to this new (cryonet.org) mailing list automatically. The cryonet.org
mailing list also will include whatever messages people post to that list,
but those messages are _not_ forwarded back to the att.com CryoNet.
Not all CryoNet features have been reproduced at cryonet.org. Here is
a brief summary of where it is at right now:
Digests - The cryonet.org mailing list creates a digest file once
each night, much like the att.com CryoNet, although it currently
gets sent out one hour later.
Splitting of Large Digests into Smaller Messages - This is not done
(yet) at cryonet.org.
Archive Retrieval - The cryonet.org list creates a digest file of
the requested messages much like the att.com list. It doesn't
(yet) split large digests into smaller messages and it thus
doesn't have the SPLITLINES option for controlling how many
lines are in the split pieces. Archive retrieval can be done
with both the "CRYOMSG" command in the Subject line or a "get"
command in the message body. For the "CRYOMSG" option, the
CRYOADDR command for alternate reply address is supported,
but not (yet) for the "get" option. Also, as before, anyone can
retrieve archives, whether or not they are on the mailing list.
Of course, one can retrieve only the archives that exist, and
most of the thousands of CryoNet archive files have not been
copied to cryonet.org (yet).
Who Can Post - At the att.com CryoNet only people who receive CryoNet
can post to the list, but the cryonet.org list does not (yet) have
that restriction. Also, putting "CRYONICS" in the Subject line no
longer will be necessary for postings at cryonet.org; simply sending
email to will be sufficient.
Automated Subscribe/Unsubscribe - Majordomo automates the subscribe and
unsubscribe chores at cryonet.org. No such automation was ever
implemented at the att.com CryoNet.
Confidentiality of List Membership - Since some people did not want
their subscription to CryoNet known, the subscription list has always
been confidential. At cryonet.org, the best one can do at this
time (without hacking Majordomo), is to allow only people on the
mailing list to retrieve the subscription list. This list is
retrieved with the Majordomo "who" command. Even hacking Majordomo
to disable the "who" command wouldn't buy much security, though,
because I've been assured that a knowledgeable hacker could retrieve
it anyway. Fortunately, at c2.org (the host site for cryonet.org)
one can purchase inexpensive anonymous accounts, which will preserve
your anonymity not only from the world at large, but also from both
the owner of c2.org and me. (For more information about that,
check the main c2.org Web pages at URL http://www.c2.org/ or send
email to ) If you still have a problem with that,
send email to me and I'll see what we can work out.
Auto-Forwarding to sci.cryonics - This is done as before; whenever the
Subject line of the message includes "SCI.CRYONICS" or "CRYONICS.SCI"
the message gets forwarded to the USENET sci.cryonics news group
automatically. (Note that putting "CRYONICS" in the Subject line
no longer will be needed for ordinary postings to CryoNet.)
In fact, even the att.com CryoNet now forwards to sci.cryonics
by first forwarding to cryonet.org, which then forwards to
sci.cryonics. This is done mainly because of the 12 hour (!)
password aging at the att.com USENET machine but also to reduce
potential repercussions from bad postings.
Several Lists: regular, exclude sci.cryonics, and politics
Only the regular CryoNet has been set up at cryonet.org so far.
CRYOKILL - The capability to "unpost" your messages before mailblast
time has not yet been implemented at cryonet.org.
Notice of New/Updated Archive Messages - This is not yet implemented
for the nightly digest at cryonet.org.
Archive File Naming System - The cryonet.org archives use the same,
numeric naming system. Thus, each message is still a separate
archive file, just as before.
Subject Line of Digest Tells Message Numbers - The cryonet.org digests
use a similar format for telling in the subject line which messages
are included in the digest.
Directories of Archives - The automatic updating of message 0001, which
has a one-line summary of all regular CryoNet messages, is not (yet)
implemented at cryonet.org.
My initial effort toward CryoNet Web pages is at URL:
http://www.c2.org/~kqb/cryonet.html
Note that the URL uses "c2.org" instead of "cryonet.org" and also
has a "~kqb" in it. (Some Web browsers, such as Lynx, can't handle
that type of URL, I'm told.) I expect to improve that eventually,
but it's not at the top of my priority list. My next main chore for
the Web pages will be to implement CryoNet archive retrieval functions
to complement the capabilities already provided via email.
Please let me know how you would like the CryoNet web pages to look.
The page on "Our Alternative" is especially in need of some suggestions.
Also, don't forget to visit the Sponsors page accessible directly from
the main CryoNet web page. These are the people who have helped financially
to support the new CryoNet mailing list and Web pages. If you would like
to have your name listed there, too, you know what to do! :-)
Kevin Q. Brown
PS: I could have used the address "" for posting to
CryoNet rather than "". I'm afraid that people
might get that mixed up as "", though, and perhaps
thereby send their email to "Cryonics Research, Corp." in Phoenix, AZ
(which owns the "cryonics" domain) rather than to CryoNet. (Cryonics
Research, Corp. is not related to Alcor.) Somehow, the address
"" seemed to offer less likelihood of confusion.
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