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Nine times out of ten, the problem is at your site. If you aren't already good friends with the people who administer your Internet connection, now is a good time to start. These people will know when the connection is running smoothly and when it is erratic.
Posting a test message to STAT-L/SCI.STAT.CONSULT is not likely to help. If you aren't seeing normal traffic, what makes you think that you will see your test message? Also, the people who read your test message are not in a position to diagnose your problem. Only your new found friends who run your local Internet connection are in a position to diagnose your problem.
Your first step is to check one of the USENET archives described above (Altavista or Dejanews). If you see messages in either archive that are more than 48 hours old and which you have not received at your local site (via either SCI.STAT.CONSULT or STAT-L), then you have a real problem.
There are some obvious self-diagnostic questions you should ask yourself. For STAT-L readers, ask yourself if you have received mail from other Internet sources. If not, then perhaps the problem is bigger than STAT-L. Also for STAT-L readers, find out if your site has been bouncing back e-mail recently. The number one cause for not getting STAT-L mail is that the list administrator noticed a bunch of bounced e-mail error messages and has de-activated your subscription.
To find out if you've been deactivated, send a message to LISTSERV@VM1.MCGILL.CA with QUERY STAT-L in the body of the message. Please make sure you send this to the LISTSERV address and not the STAT-L address. Within a few hours, you should get a reply showing your status. If you don't get a response, that's a good sign that the listserver is down, which would mean that nobody is getting messages from STAT-L. If you do get a response, here's what it might look like.
Distribution options for Steve Simon <ssimon@CMH.EDU>, list STAT-L: Ack= No, Mail= Digests, Files= Yes, Repro= No, Header= Short(BSMTP), Renewal= Yes, Conceal= No
If your account was de-activated, the response will be
You are not subscribed to the STAT-L list.
or your distribution option will be set to NOMAIL. In either case, work with your local Internet experts to fix the problem and then either re-subscribe or set the distribution option back to MAIL.
By the way, don't complain to the list owner for de-activating your account. The typical listowner has to sort through hundreds or thousands of bounced message reports weekly, and the only way to stop these bounced message reports is to de-activate accounts. The people who you need to talk to are your new found friends who maintain your Internet access.
Failure to receive messages is less common for SCI.STAT.CONSULT readers. If you are experiencing problems, the obvious thing to look for is whether any of the newsgroups are getting through. If nothing is getting through, then you have a local problem. If you get postings from other newsgroups, then perhaps your server has decided not to carry SCI.STAT.CONSULT anymore. Either way, you have to talk to your local Internet experts.
5 How do I get the archives of STAT-L/SCI.STAT.CONSULT?