Subject: News and woos from coordinator

From: Jan Labanowski <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 1995 00:43:13 -0400

Dear Netters,

Occassionally, I need to say that I am here... Do not take it, please, as:
  "Your daddy is talking"...
I am simply trying to do my job...

Now, you can try the new look of the CCL home page (Alan Chalker, my
student assistant, is doing a fine job, but I still think about improvements,
so it is not yet an "official" page, but, see for yourself...)
   http://www.ccl.net/chemtest.html
and comment, please...

Now, some people asked me (prompted by the change of list's address from
[email-masked] to [email-masked]), if I got the support for the
list. Carefully crafted {:-)} answer is: yes and no...
Your letters of support were used inside the OSC to help me get, a more or
less, dedicated machine for the CCL and delay the cutoff date. As the proposal
for extramural support is concerned, it is still pending... 
If I get it, you will be the first to know.

You will notice on some messages that the Subject starts from:
     CCL:G:        -- to identify that words Gaussian or G9* were used
                      within a message
     CCL:M:        -- to identify that the word MOPAC was used within a message

I am getting some remarks from subscribers that these topics
are occupying too much of the CCL. I insist that they are within a scope of
the list, and if they are asked, they may be needed. Of course, I know
about [email-masked], but some people want to contact actual users.
On the other hand, I wished that the questions were sometimes asked in a more
useful way... Which prompts me to give a sermon...  {:-)}

The list is to get and give. If you get (and even if you do not...) try to
give... (OK, OK, but I heard this long before JFK said something to this
effect, and I am also trying to be "gentlier and kindlier"...). Before you ask
the list for help, try to see, if you can find the answer yourself. Many
questions were asked and answered before. You can search the archives of CCL.
Send a message:
   help search
to [email-masked] to find out how. Yes, it is clumsy, and I am
working on a better document and search engine, but the old stuff is still
usable, so use it please. It is not that difficult, after you try a few times.
And if you find something pertinent, at least you can start the discussion
on a higher level. If you cannot find the answer, ask the list, but try
to make your question interesting and useful to others -- e.g., say more how
did you run into the problem, tell what you do, etc...

And if you get the answer(s), try to summarize it and post it back to the
CCL. We want to learn what you learned. And if you summarize, please
try to make the messages compact, just quote the important lines which
helped you to solve the problem giving credit. The whole headers or redundant
information is not needed in such a summary -- try to make it selfcontained
but also short if possible.

Now, please adhere to rules of the list. They are available from the
home page: http://www.ccl.net/chemistry.html but can also be retrieved
via e-mail by sending a message:
   help chemistry
to [email-masked]
If you are in doubt, if something fits the profile of the list, please
ask me before posting. My reject file gets longer and longer (the reject
file lists addresses of people who sinned, and I need to review their
messages before they are posted to the list), and I hate to be a censor.

I hope, I did enough preaching for today. Tomorrow, or in the next few
days, I plan to share my impressions (very limited, in fact) from the ACS
Meeting in Chicago. So beware...

Jan Labanowski
The CCL Watchdog (old, worn out, teethless, but still barking)
[email-masked]