The SeqFan mailing list home page

The SeqFan Mailing List

This page serves as home for the SeqFan mailing list, a club devoted to the study of integer sequences. It is still in construction. Look it up regularly for new topics and informations. It is now mirrored there.

What is it ?

A mailing list for FANs of Integer SEQuences. It is bilingual french/english. In french, we worked out an acronym:
Suites Entières: Questions, Formules, Analyse, Nomenclature
which translates as Problems, Formulas, Analysis and Inventory of Integer Sequences.

SeqFan has been created in January 1998. The initial members were Neil J.A. Sloane, ATT research labs and Olivier Gérard, Quadrature Quarterly.

If you are not familiar with mailing lists, here is a quick idea.

Who can join ?

The only requirements to become a member are:

To have a stable internet mailing address
To have a keen interest and some creativity about integer sequences

Point 1 is necessary for you to take advantage of a mailing list. Currently for point 2 we require that you contributed at least 5 different sequences to the Online E.I.S.. But this is not that strict, so you can mail me ogerard@ext.jussieu.fr to explain me your interest in seqfan.

How do I join ?

The mailing list is hosted by Jussieu Campus Mail server in Paris, France whose address is Listserv@Ext.jussieu.fr. To subscribe, just mail to this address a message (with no subject) and containing a line of the form:

SUB seqfan (First name) (Last name) - (Institution, if applicable)

This request will be forwarded to the list owner who will then add you to the list. If you prefer to directly deal with humans, just send me a mail : ogerard@ext.jussieu.fr.

How do I send messages to the list ?

Send it to the list's address seqfan@ext.jussieu.fr. The SeqFan is a restricted list in the sense that only members can send mail to it. This measure help reduce spam and unwanted address collecting. Contact me ogerard@ext.jussieu.fr if you feel the need to send an information to members but do not want (or do not bother) to join us.

Is it easy to unsubscribe ?

Of course, but why ? We shall be sad you leave us but the procedure is simple. Send a message (with no subject) to Listserv@Ext.jussieu.fr and containing a line of the form:

UNSUB seqfan

As with any command, do not send it to the list address: your order would not be processed but sent to all subscribers.

How does it works ?

A mailing list server is a program (in our case sympa running on a freebsd workstation) which receives mail and forward it to all the email adresses of a list. It usually archives all mail too (this is the case for the seqfan mailing list).
There are two addresses: one is the address of the List server itself and is used only for sending commands (subscribing, unsubscribing, retrieving log files); the other is the list's address to send your contributions. When a member sends a message to the list's address seqfan@ext.jussieu.fr, it is copied and sent to all others by the list server.
The list server takes also care of various administrative duties. Usually a list server hosts more than one list. To know which lists are currently available on Jussieu Computing Center List Server, send a message to Listserv@Ext.jussieu.fr with the command LIST on a line.
To know which other commands are available send a message to Listserv@Ext.jussieu.fr with the command HELP.

Why a mailing list ?

A mailing list is a good way to build a little (virtual) community of people with something in common. In this case, the taste for integer sequences.
Archiving of the messages provide also a good reference for further discussion and give newcomers the ability to review previous discussions and integrate easily into the community.

Note for local users : If you work for one of the Universities or Institutes of the Jussieu Campus, contact the C.C.R. for advice on setting up a mailing list (thanks to you François Paillous) or taking advantages of the various computing and network facilities. You will be heartily received.