Problem with confirmation of newbie

[Gene Partlow]

Hello - - 
Frustration seems to dog me these days.  You sent out a post to
me Subject:  confirm d0a7baebb86825bd9132711c01725567d0fd79cc

This was in response to my subscription attempt to get into your
mailing list and post queries and get helpful advice.  One of the ways
suggested to confirm that I indeed want to be added was to " visit
this web page:


https://www.cae.wisc.edu/mailman/confirm/help-octave/d0a7baebb86825bd9132711c01725567d0fd79cc

When I did so, I received a "Bad Confirmation string" window
saying invalid confirmation string: d0a7baebb86825bd9132711c01725567d0fd79cc.

I tried to re-enter it 3 times.  Same result.  What's going on?
AALLL I want to do is get to some place where actual live
and responsive people can give me needed advice on how
and whether I can locate an appropriate Octave version for
my iMac.