Answers
About The Humor List
How do I join The Humor List?
send an email to listserv@listserv.uga.edu with
Subscribe humor firstname lastname
in the BODY of the message. (Use your name for Firstname lastname)
How often do I receive jokes?
When you first subscribe, your Humor mail is set to
Digest. This means you receive your jokes once a day. An
index is included at the beginning of your digest. If you
wish, you may receive your jokes as individual
postings. (See the first question under 'Other list-related
questions.) You will receive 8 or more jokes a day.
What kind of humor is contributed?
You will find all kinds of humor. We realize all kinds
of humor does not appeal to all people. As our List
founder said, "Humor is humor, but there is not accounting
for people's taste." Our contributors have been asked to
put comments within brackets as part of the joke title to
denote any jokes which might be objectionable to some people.
Why are there 2 lists?
Soon after the HUMOR list was created, it became necessary to
control the humor submitted. This was done by
having a contributors list (HUMOR-P). Only the people on this list
can post to the humor list and must obey a set of rules for posting.
Answers About Contributing
How do I become a contributor?
Send an email to
listserv@listserv.uga.edu with
get humor guide
in the BODY of the message and follow the instructions on 'How to Be a
Contributor'.
How often do I have to contribute?
We encourage our contributors to contribute at least
once a month. However, you may contribute every day and many
of our regulars do. The contributors list is checked
occasionally and purged of contributors who have not
contributed for a good while.
How many contributors are there?
As of the original creation of this FAQ (June 2006),
there are 32 contributors.
What will get me kicked off of the
contributors list?
Continued violation of The
Rules. The next few questions mention a couple of
The Rules.
Can I rebutt a joke?
This is not allowed. Requests, responses, comments, discussion, criticisms, and
questions are not considered appropriate postings. All chatter,
including witty remarks about what someone else says, should be
sent only by private e-mail.
Can I have a URL to a joke?
No. The exclusion includes URLs, GIFs, cartoons,
graphics and anything other than pure text. Today we must also
consider virus propagation, IP address capture and a host of other
complexities when we invite our subscribers to click on a URL.
Just because it is now coming from a known contributor doesn't provide an
assurance that we know 'where it has been' and that it is virus
free.
Company policies come into play when corporate servers can now
capture any URL clicked. Again, we don't want to get anyone
into trouble at the office.
The intent of the list has always been to provide a quick bit of
humor that can be relayed via world of mouth. URLs with graphics,
etc. will not allow that.
Lastly, we do not want to provide free advertising to other sites
and those who would pirate our subscribers. "Blind URLs" will
sometimes do that.
Can I post a joke someone else has
posted to the list?
This is highly discouraged and repeated violations will
result in removal from the contributors list. Our
contributors are required to get individual postings and
read them so they can avoid this practice.
Do I get paid for contributions?
Contributors are paid the same as the List
Maintainers. I believe if we put our salaries from this
list together, we might be able to get a stick of
gum. Our salary is the satisfaction is that we are making people laugh.
Answers About the Humor List History & Statistics
Who is Bill Edwards?
Bill Edwards is the Founder of the UGA Humor List,
which is now called The Humor List, although the server program still
resides at the University of Georgia (UGA).
Why did Bill Edwards start the UGA
Humor List?
His motivation for founding the list was to provide a uncensored and diverse source of humor for a college seminar about the "Communication of Humor." He had planned to use a list called NUTS for his seminar. NUTS has to have been one of the most chaotic and ill-mannered lists ever to have been. In February 1993, one month before Bill was to lead his seminar, the postmaster wisely killed NUTS. Edwards petitioned the computer staff at the University of Georgia to allow him to create HUMOR.
When was The Humor List started?
The UGA Humor List had its first day of postings on
April 9, 1993.
How many jokes were sent out the first
day?
The first day, there were 9 postings to the
list. However, one of these postings was about 50 jokes
left over from the NUTS list, mostly lawyer jokes.
What is the average number of jokes
sent out daily?
As of the creation of the faq (June 2006), there are about 8-10
a day.
What is the highest number of
subscribers and when was this peak achieved?
Only monthly statistics have been kept on this. As of March
1997, we had 10,721 subscribers.
What is the highest number of
contributors and when was this peak achieved?
Only monthly statistics have been kept on this. As of March
1994, we had 294 contributors.
What is the highest number of countries
subscribers came from and when was this peak achieved?
Only monthly statistics have been kept on this. As of October
1998, we had 120 countries.
Answers About Other List-related Items
I am getting my jokes in a digest. How
do I get individual postings?
Send an email to listserv@listserv.uga.edu with
set humor mail
in the BODY of the message.
I am getting my jokes as individual
postings. How do I get them in a digest?
Send an email to listserv@listserv.uga.edu with
set humor digest
in the BODY of the message.
I am going out of town for a while. How
can I stop my jokes until I come back?
Send an email to listserv@listserv.uga.edu with
set humor nomail
in the BODY of the message.
When you want to start your mail up again, use the statements in 1
or 2 above, depending on whether you want individual
postings or digests.
I have a joke I would like to have posted, but I
don't want to be a contributor. How do I get it posted?
We would encourage you to be a contributor. (See above on how
to be a contributor). You might
want to submit other jokes sometime. You don't have to
submit more than once a month if you don't want to. I only
submitted about that often when I started.
If this is
really not an option for you, any of our staff would be
glad to submit your joke for you. Just email
or
Why do I only see submissions from a
few countries?
Currently, our contributors are only from about 3 countries. Anyone
from anywhere can be a contributor. Back in Sept 1996 we had
contributors from 22 countries.
How can I help increase subscriptions
to The Humor List?
There are many ways you can help:
(1) Add The Humor List to a webring.
(2) Add The Humor List to search engines.
(3) Advertise The Humor List in humor or computer magazines.
(4) Add a signature to your email telling people how to subscribe
to The Humor List.
If you would like to help with any of the above or know of any other
ways to publicize The Humor List, send an email to our ListOwner,
.
I have changed my email address. How do I
update my HUMOR & HUMOR-P addresses?
If you need to update your HUMOR-P address, DO
NOT signoff HUMOR-P; send Jay an
email and let him update your
HUMOR-P. That way you will not need to re-apply for poster status.
You are expected to manage your HUMOR address by signing off from the
old address while it is still active and subscribing from the new
address when it is active.
I would like to leave the list. How do I do it?
Send an email to listserv@listserv.uga.edu with
signoff humor
-or-
signoff humor-p (if you are a contributor)
in the BODY of the message.
You have not answered my question. How
can I submit question(s) for this faq?
Doug Harter is the maintainer of the faq. Send him an
with your question(s). He will research the answer and add
it to the faq.
