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January 04, 2008
Mailing List to Web Transition
As previously announced, as of this month, IEC announcements will be distributed through this web site. The IEC is no longer maintaining a manual mailing list, but those members who wish to receive an e-mail echo of all web site posts can sign up for a free third party service called RssFwd. The process was explained in our Nov. 13 post.
Troubleshooting RssFwd
A few members have had problems subscribing to RssFwd, which they were able to solve as follows:
A. Several members have encountered delays of several minutes and eventually receiving the error message "Server Not Found." This is the most common subscription problem encountered. The RssFwd service responds very slowly at times, and attempts to access the server "time out." This may be due to many people taking them up on their offer of free service. In any event, keep trying. Whatever the cause of the delays, it appears that users who have been patient have eventually been able to subscribe.
B. On trying to enter the URL www.iecjournal.org, one member received the error message: "Cannot find file. Make sure the path or the Internet address is correct." This was resolved by entering it with the letters "iec" on the end: www.iecjournal.org/iec
Our Nov. 23 post had some other troubleshooting tips. If you encounter some other problem, let us know, and we will attempt to help.
Alternatives to RssFwd
As explained previously, RssFwd is not a perfect solution. It's a free third party service, and the provider offers little or no technical support. Once the subscription difficulties mentioned above are overcome, the service seems to operate very reliably, though a few members have complained that the formatting of e-mails seems unnecessarily hard to read. While RssFwd is functional, we welcome suggestions as to better alternatives, preferably ones that will work with the IEC's non-existent budget.
Many IEC members may find a dedicated RSS reader preferable to the e-mail echo. Many are available. These are very useful, but have the drawback that you don't receive updates unless you remember to use them.
In response to our request for advice, Kevin O'Keefe, an expert on RSS use by lawyers, recommended an online RSS reader, Google Reader. It has the advantages of being:
- Free, and
- An online service (no need to download any software to your computer).
