Lists allow email discussions among a group of people. Instead of sending a mail message to one person, you send the message to an email address that identifies the list. The message is then redistributed to everyone who reads (or subscribes to) the list. Reading a list is a matter of reading your email.You may belong to a group or a class which has decided to carry out discussion on a list, or you may have heard of a list which discusses a topic in which you are interested. The following information will help you join the list and participate in its discussion.
an email address you use for sending messages to the list's subscribers. Messages sent to the list are redistributed to people who subscribe to the list. A particular list's address will have the format: listname@listserv.oit.unc.edu.
a list which anyone can join.
a list to which access may be restricted. For example, a list might be set up so that only members of a specific class can subscribe to it.
specific software that controls the administration of a list. For example, people send requests to subscribe to a list to ListProcessor. The person who maintains a list also sends maintenance commands to ListProcessor.
the generic name for various types of software that operate lists.
a person who receives a list's messages.
person who initiates and maintains a list.
a person to whom a list's messages are sent for clearance before being sent to the list's subscribers. All lists must have a list owner, but moderators are optional.
another name for sending messages to a list.
electronic storage of posts. Subscribers can get former postings for some lists (see ListProcessor commands).
a file compilation of messages sent to a list. For some lists (those that are "digestible"), subscribers can get periodic digests instead of individual messages.
The other option for submitting list commands is to send email messages directly to the ListProcessor. This method requires you to remember the commands or to keep a reference sheet available. Using email, however, may be quicker for you since you will be receiving email from the list anyway.This document covers both methods of submitting list commands. You may find one method easier than the other, or you may decide to use the Web for some commands and email for others. Using one method does not mean you cannot switch to the other method.
People join a list by sending a message to the ListProcessor software (never to the list!). For example, if Jane Doe wants to join a public list called Forum, she would send subscribe forum jane doe as the body of her mail message to listserv@"LISTSERVER SYSTEM NAME" (the email address for the ListProcessor software controlling the Forum list), leaving the Subject: field blank. For example:To: listserv@unc.edu From: jdoe@email.unc.edu CC: Subject: ------- Message Text -------- subscribe forum jane doeIf she wants to unsubscribe from the Forum list, she would send unsubscribe forum to the same ListProcessor address. If the list is closed or private, the request will be forwarded to the list owner for approval.
To send or post a message to the list, send an email message to the address listname@"LISTSERVER SYSTEM NAME". Enter the subject and content information as you normally would.
If you would like to reply to a message that someone else has sent, simply choose Reply as you would for any other message. Depending on how the list is setup, you may be asked if you want to reply to just the original sender or to the whole list. Before you reply to the whole list, consider carefully whether your response is of interest to everyone or just the original poster.
When posting to a list, be aware that some people get hundreds of email messages a day. These people-- and others as well-- do not want to receive unnecessary messages, and they may get rather testy if they do. So be sure that any messages you post to a list are interesting and useful to those who read the list (messages like "Great!", for example, are rather useless) and especially that the message is relevant to the list. If you ask the English grad students list how to use the library, for example, you may get some rather nasty responses.
There are several options you can set to customize your participation in the list. As with subscribing and unsubscribing to a list, you can send an email message to the ListProcessor.
ACK ListProcessor will send you a message that acknowledges your postings to the list NOACK If you do not want ListProcessor to acknowledge your postings, use this option to turn off acknowledgments. POSTPONE If you are going away for awhile and don't want the messages piling up or just want a break from reading the list, you can postpone your membership in the list. DIGEST If you do not like to have lots of mail cluttering up your mailbox, some lists will allow you to receive the postings of a list in digest form. A digest is a collection of messages sent to the list; the digest will be sent when 1000 lines of message text has been sent to the list.Setting Options Using EmailUsing email seems a little more complicated but also gives you more options. You can use the set command to modify the way in which you participate in the list. As with the subscribe command, send a message to listserv@unc.edu with the Subject: line blank and with the command as the body of the message. Note: You must send all communication with the list from the same email address; if you have more than one email address, pick one to use as your access to the list.Your options are actually divided into five categories: mail (which includes the ACK and other options listed above), password, address, conceal, and preference. When you issue a set command, you must specify which category you are addressing. The format for a set command is set list [<option> <arg[s]>].
Acknowledgments
If you want ListProc to acknowledge your postings to the list, send the following message:To: listserv@unc.edu Subject: ----- Message Text ----- set listname mail ACKIf you no longer want acknowledgments sent to you, send the above message but change ACK to NOACK.Postpone
To postpone your membership to the list, send the above message but substitute POSTPONE for ACK. To reactivate yourself on the list, send either an ACK or a NOACK message to the list.Digest
To receive postings in digest form, send the above message but replace ACK with DIGEST.Other Options
The other categories of options are less important. ListProc does not use a password for subscribers, so that field is usually just filled with something random. The address option allows you to change your address for subscribing to the list, if you have more than one email address. The conceal options removes your name from the recipients and statistics documents which are sent out to anyone who requests them (see Command list below). The preference option is for list owners.General ListProcessor Commands
The following is a list of commands for working with lists. The commands are presented in the format they would be used if sending email to ListProcessor.Send the command as the only text of a mail message to listserv@"LISTSERVER ADDRESS NAME. The Subject: line should be blank. Substitute the italicized text with information relevant to the list. Everything appearing in square brackets [ ] is optional. The commands can be upper or lower case, and you can abbreviate them to the first three letters. The ListProcessor will respond to the command via an email message sent back to you.
Subscriber Commands
help [topic]
If you don't supply a topic, you'll receive a list of commands (essentially the list that appears here). Give a topic to get specific information (for example, help statistics).*subscribe (or join) list your name
The command used to subscribe to open or public lists.*unsubscribe (or signoff) list
The command used to stop receiving the list's messages.*recipients list
Get a list of the current subscribers to the specified list.*information list
Get information about a specified list.*set list [<option> <arg[s]>]
Without the optional arguments, get a list of all current settings for the specified list. Otherwise change the option to a new value for that list (or the list default if that value is missing). Valid arguments are:mail [ACK|NOACK|POSTPONE|DIGEST]See above or issue a 'help set' request for more information.
password <current-password> [new-password]
address <current-password> <new-address>
conceal [YES|NO]
preference [preferences]*review list
Review the list's settings, get the list's general information file, and get a listing of the current subscribers for the list.statistics list [email address or all]
Get a list of subscribers along with the number of messages each one of them has sent to the specified list. If you want statistics on specific subscribers, list their email addresses after the list name. For information on all subscribers, include all after the list name.*lists [keyword]
Get a list of mailing lists that are served by the server. If you include the optional keyword, you will get a list of lists on that topic.purge list
Remove yourself from all mailing lists on this system.which
Get a listing of mailing lists on the server to which you are subscribed.release
Get information about the current release of this ListProcessor system.Archive Commands
Some lists may store past postings in a file called an archive. An archive may also contain other files which have been stored for search and retrieval using ListProc. The optional password parameter shown in archive commands is omitted except when the specified archives have been password protected for privacy, in which case the password associated with the archive must be supplied in the commands, preceded by a slash.index listname
Get a list of files in the selected archive. If no archive is specified you will get a list of the master archive.search archive or path-to-archive [/password] [-all] pattern
Search all files of the specified archives (and all of its subarchives if -all is specified) for lines that match the pattern. The pattern can include operations such as | for OR and & for AND. Note: . (period) matches any character, including new line.get listname documentname
Get the requested file from the specified archive.
The IAB Data Collection thanks the University of North Carolina for provding the basic layout for these web pages. The original document was a web page from the The Office of Information Technology at The University of North Carolina that has been modified/updated for general use. The information contained in these pages is intended to help beginning internet users to use the World Wide Web (WWW). It is written to help IAB members, State Board Members, and others find and use information on the internet. Please send any comments/suggestions to Ernie_Patterson@unc.edu.