ListServ Manager's Survival Guide
- How do I sign up for a mailing list?
Classlist
Mailreq
- How do list-owners manage lists?
Authentication
Populating the list
Adding/Deleting addresses
Self subscription/unsubscription
Sending messages
Getting a list of subscribers
1. How do I sign up for a mailing list?
Once you decide that a ListServ mailing list would be useful for you, you need to have a list set
up for you. To request a list, you will need the approval of an appropriate person in authority. For
a class, that is the professor; for a recognized student organization, it is the organization president;
for other groups, it will be someone up the chain of command such as a department head. Please note that
you must sign up for the list using the exact email address (username@domainname) that you will use to
send messages and manage the list.
In the Drexel system, you have a choice of two methods for setting up a list.
Classlist
If the list is for a class at the University City campus, you can
use the Course Management Service utility. Go to http://one.drexel.edu/,
sign in using your email username and password, choose
the School Services tab, then click on Course Management
Service. Log in again, then select your class, and click on
Email List. Then follow the instructions at the bottom of
the email list. If you have a large class with many sections, and
need to concatenate the sections to send email to the entire class,
you will need to contactmailreq (see below). Once you receive your
list name via email, you will go back to Photo Class List to populate
the list with email addresses.
Mailreq
If the list is not for a class, or if it is for a class with multiple
sections, send a request message describing the size and function
of the list to mailreq@drexel.edu
from the exact email address (username@domainname) you will
use for managing the list. Give information regarding your preferences
as to type of subscription (open/closed), type of posting
(moderated/unmoderated), whether you will share the editing, etc.
You will receive your list name via email. Do give us a phone number
where we can contact you for further clarification if needed.
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2. How do list-owners manage lists?
List-owners manage their lists by sending email messages to listserv@lists.drexel.edu. The
subject line of the email should be blank; the body of the email should contain the command(s) in
an exactly prescribed format. Your commands are authenticated by the exact email address
(username@domainname) from which you send the email.
You must always send mail to ListServ from the exact email address (username@domainname) to
which the list is registered. If you have signed up for the list from username@drexel.edu and then
send a command from username@mail.drexel.edu, ListServ will not recognize and accept your command.
If your email address changes, even slightly, you must let us know at
mailreq@drexel.edu.
In order to control the nomenclature exactly, many list-owners find it convenient to set up a special
personality within their email software specifically for managing their lists. That way the list-owners
are not confused, and ListServ is not confused, and things such as automated signature files, which
generate error messages in ListServ, can be omitted.
Authentication
All messages to ListServ and all postings to ListServ lists require authentication, with the
exception of lists configured for open subscription and/or unmoderated posting. The
method of authentication is among the parameters that are set at the time of list creation.
Authentication can be either by confirmation or by password. Confirmation is the method
most commonly used at Drexel and MCP Hahnemann universities.
Authentication by confirmation.You send a command to ListServ or a posting to your ListServ list. ListServ compares your exact email address
to its authorized list of list-owners, list-editors, or subscribers. If your email address matches exactly and
you are authorized for the function you are attempting, ListServ immediately sends you a confirmation
request. Use the Reply feature in your email client; if the text of your message appears, Delete
it; type OK in the text field; Send back to ListServ. You're done! The text of your message is
unnecessary because ListServ has inserted a coded message number in the Subject line, so be sure you do
not delete or alter the Subject line in the confirmation message.
In the Drexel system, the confirmation method of authentication will ordinarily be used with all
commands to ListServ and with all messages to ListServ lists. If you do use a password (see next
section), that process replaces the confirmation and no confirmation request will be sent to you.
Authentication by password.The alternative method for authenticating your commands to ListServ and messages to ListServ lists is through
a password. The password, when used, must appear at the end of the first line of your set of commands in the
form pw=yourpassword, where yourpassword is the code you have chosen (see next section).
Setting up your password.If you expect to use a password for any ListServ functions, then your first action after receiving your list
name is to set your password. This is a code you will use within your command messages to ListServ to
authenticate your commands.
To set up your password, send an email to listserv@lists.drexel.edu with the following message:
where newpassword is the password you have chosen to manage your ListServ list. Do NOT use
your email password or any other secure password for this purpose; you will frequently be sending
this password in plaintext in your messages to ListServ, where it can easily be read by a malicious
hacker.
If you forget or need to change your ListServ password, send an email to
listserv@lists.drexel.edu with the following command:
ListServ will send you an email to confirm this command. Reply
to this email; Delete the text, if any, and type OK
and Send it back to ListServ. This deletes your old password.
You can then set a new password using the pw add newpassword
command.
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Populating the list
- From Classlist: Return to http://www.drexel.edu/classlist/
and follow the instructions to populate your list with all the
members of your class.
- Using your own separate list: You can send an email to
listserv@lists.drexel.edu from the account referenced in setting
up the list. To subscribe people to your list, you use the add
command. To add one user at a time, the command is:
add listname username
where listname is the name of your list (the string that
comes before "@lists.drexel.edu"), and username
is the email address (of the form userid@domain.name) of the person
being added. Authenticate by confirmation (or use your password).
To add a large number of users, the format is:
[quiet] add listname dd=ddname
import
//ddname dd *
userid1@host1.com
userid2@host2.com
…
useridn@hostn.com
/*
where [quiet] is an optional parameter that will NOT
notify the person that they have been subscribed. If you use the
quiet parameter, do not include the brackets. Listname
is your list's name, and ddname is a temporary name to
identify the list of addresses. Authenticate by confirmation (or
use your password).
Note 1: If ListServ
asks you to supply the Full Name for the username you
have added, click here.
Note 2: If ListServ
appears to truncate your command line before the end, click here.
Adding/Deleting usernames
The command for adding usernames to your list is identical to that for populating the list.
The command for deleting one username at a time is as follows:
delete listname username
where listname is the name of your list (the string that
comes before "@lists.drexel.edu"), and username
is the email address (of the form userid@domain.name) of the person
being deleted. Authenticate by confirmation (or use your password).
To delete a large number of users, the format is:
[quiet] delete listname dd=ddname
//ddname dd *
userid1@host1.com
userid2@host2.com
…
useridn@hostn.com
/*
where [quiet] is an optional parameter that will NOT notify the person that they have been
unsubscribed. If you use the quiet parameter, do not include the brackets. Listname is your
list's name, and ddname is a temporary name to identify the list of addresses. Note that in this
case the import keyword is not used. Authenticate by confirmation (or use your password).
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Self subscription/Unsubscription
For an open list, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can join the list. The
user sends an email, with blank subject line, to listserv@lists.drexel.edu. In the text box,
the user types:
subscribe listname
where listname is the name of the list. Note that the user does not type his email address,
as that will be taken from the From line in his message header. To prevent forgery, ListServ
will send a confirmation request. The user will Reply, Delete the message, if any is shown,
and type OK, and Send the message back to ListServ.
To unsubscribe from a list, the user sends an email to listserv@lists.drexel.edu with the
message
signoff listname
where listname is the name of the list. Again, the user will Reply with the message
OK to the confirmation request from ListServ.
Users may subscribe and unsubscribe only with open lists. For closed lists, the subscription process
is under the control of the list-owner.
Sending messages
Messages to the list - as opposed to commands governing the list - are sent as email to the
listname, not to ListServ.
- For a Broadcast list: Messages may be posted only by the
list-owner or list-editor(s). From the account referenced in setting up the list, send an email
to:
listname@lists.drexel.edu
where listname is the exact name of your list. Put the text of your message in the text
box and an appropriate subject heading in the subject line. When you send the message, go immediately
and check your incoming email. ListServ ask you for confirmation the message you have just sent. Use
the Reply feature in your email client, Delete the text of the message if shown, type
OK in the text field, and click Send. Your message is now authenticated by your email
address and will be sent to your list.
- For a moderated Discussion list: The member (subscriber) to the list
sends a message from the exact email address by which he is subscribed to:
listname@lists.drexel.edu
where listname is the exact name of the list. He should put the text of the message in
the text box and an appropriate subject heading in the subject line.
ListServ will send a copy of the message with a confirmation request to the moderator
(list-owner or list-editor). To post the message, the list-owner/editor will Reply,
Delete the message, type OK and click the send button.
- For an unmoderated Discussion list: The member (subscriber) to
the list sends a message from the exact email address by which he is subscribed to:
listname@lists.drexel.edu
where listname is the exact name of the list. He should put the text of the message in
the text box and an appropriate subject heading in the subject line. The message will be posted
directly to the list.
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Getting a list of subscribers
The list owner can obtain a list of current subscribers to the list with the following command:
review listname
where listname is the name of your list. Authenticate by confirmation (or use your password).
This will send you the list configuration and the list of subscribers.
Last updated on 11/22/02 by Ruth Matson and Beth Davis Hazany,
IRT.
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