Listserv

A Listserv is a sophisticated e-mail distribution list with a significant number of owner and user options. A Listserv is established for the two-way communication of the list members who share a common interest.

The list owner is the person responsible for the list. Typically, the person who requests the creation of a Listserv is the owner. Zero or more individuals (which may include the owner) may be moderators who receive messages sent to the Listserv and determine if those messages should be re-distributed to the entire list membership. In the absences of any moderators, all messages sent to the list are automatically redistributed to all members. List members or subscribers are those individuals who have joined the list of members and who subsequently receive messages that were sent to the Listserv.

A Listserv at UNO will be private. A private list will require a request for membership and afterwards allow only list member to send messages to the List and be re-distributed afterwards.

A Listserv can also be open or closed. An open list is one for which an individual can subscribe (i.e., join) and unsubscribe (i.e., discontinue membership) as desired. A closed list is one requires that an individual must request membership as well as request termination. Only the owner can allow a particular individual to join the list. Additionally, the owner can indicate that particular individuals will be members of the list without those individuals applying for membership. Open lists seem to be more popular with list owners.

A one-way announcement list is one that only sends messages (e.g., announcements) to the members. The individual members cannot respond or send messages to the list to be redistributed to the entire membership.

A two-way discussion list is one that allows any member to send a message to the list that will be redistributed to the entire membership. This is the typical type of Listerv.

A moderated list is a variation of a two-way discussion list has one or more individuals who act as editors or moderators - they review each potential message, and perhaps modify it, before the message is sent to the membership. Moderated lists are less than popular with list owners because of the extra effort involved in acting as a moderator. If the common interest of the list may become controversial in nature, a moderated list is strongly recommended.

Archives are collections of all messages that were posted to the list during a certain time period (e.g., a particular month). These collections can be reviewed at virtually any time by the subscribers.

Digests are periodic collections of messages that are sent to users who request them. One digest is sent rather than the individual messages as they are posted to the list.

Listsersv's were originally created to accommodate only e-mail messages and responses. Now there is also a web-interface. The e-mail described is outlined first.

E-mail communication with a Listserv

There are two fundamental methods of communicating with a Listserv. Sending a message to the UNO Listserv server (i.e., to listserv@listserv.uno.edu) means that a command should be performed (e.g., subscribe, unsubscribe, change the characteristics of one's own subscription). Posting (i.e., sending) a message to a list (e.g., mylist-L@listserv.uno.edu where "mylist-L" is the name of a specific Listserv) means that the sent message should be redistributed to all members of the list.

To subscribe (i.e., join) a UNO Listserv, send a message to listserv@listserv.uno.edu with a blank Subject line but with the single line message of:

subscribe mylist-L

were "mylist-L" is the name of the desired Listserv. Note that this one-line message must be concluded with the Enter key.

To conclude membership with that list, send a message to listserv@listserv.uno.edu with a blank Subject line but with the single-line message of:

unsubscribe mylist-L

were "mylist-L" is the name of the desired Listserv. Note that this one-line message must be concluded with the Enter key.

Once a user has joined a Listserv, he/she can post (i.e., send) a message to the list and thence to all of the membership by sending the message to:

mylist-L@listserv.uno.edu

were "mylist-L" is the name of the desired Listserv. The message should contain an appropriate Subject line and a message body. All members of the specified Listserv will automatically receive a copy of the message you send. In general, the messages should be relatively short (rather than a 2000-line document) and should not have any attachments. There should be other means of distributing large documents other than Listserv messages; e.g., a web page.

To receive a message from a Listserv, follow the same procedure as you would when receiving e-mail from any other source.
To reply to a received message from a Listserv, follow the same procedure as you would when replying to e-mail from any other source. Note that your response will automatically be distributed to all members of the membership. Hence, there is no need to use "reply all" (or similar option) in the e-mail client you use

Other Listserv commands

To review your personal characteristics for a given Listserv (e.g., MyList-L at UNO), send a message to listserv@listserv.uno.edu with the body of the message consisting of the one-line command

query mylist-l

(which must be concluded with the ENTER key). By return e-mail, you will receive a message similar to:

This MAIL option means the user will receive individual messages as the are sent, as opposed to receiving a single digest collection of all messages that were sent within a span of time, like a month. The MAIL option can be replaced with the DIGEST or INDEX to change the format of the delivered messages. DIGEST means that all messages of a time span (e.g., a month) are collected and sent as a single message instead of individual messages. INDEX means that only the Subject lines of all messages of a time span are collected and sent as a single message. Directions on how to retrieve individual messages of that index are sent with the index listing. The option NODIGEST turns off the digest format of delivery. Similarly, NOINDEX turns off the index format. The MAIL option (as well as the NODIGEST and NOINDEX options) means messages are received as they are sent and are not collected into digests or indices.

The NOMAIL option is used to temporarily suspend reception of messages (regardless of the format: normal/digest/index). This option would useful if the recipient will be away on business or vacation, especially if your mail account has an automatic "out of office" reply. Without using the NOMAIL option while you re away will cause sever problems with the Listserv because there is a limit to the number of consecutive invalid commands you can issue to the Listserv before it suspends your membership. Establishing the MAIL option re-instates the usual delivery of messages. MAIL/NOMAIL does not change the DIGEST/INDEX setting.

Either of the aforementioned options can be established with a command of the form

set mylist-L opt

where "mylist-L" is the name of the specific list and "opt" is the desired option like index, nomail, or digest. When the command is processed, the Listserv will return a message indicating the current set of characteristics, similar to the report obtained from using the query command. (Note that the options described in the following paragraphs are established in the same manner.)

The MIME and FULLHRD (i.e., full header) options are the default options governing the format of how messages are sent electronically and how much header information is put in the received message.

The NOREPRO (i.e., no reproduction) option means that you will not receive a copy of any messages that you post to the List. This means, that you are not considered a list member for the messages that you yourself post to the List. The option REPRO reverses the setting so that you will receive a copy of the messages you yourself post to the List.

The ACK (i.e., acknowledge) option means that you will receive a short message from Listserv acknowledging the fact that your posting to the List has been received and will be redistributed to the membership. This option is reversed with the NOACK option - do not confirm or acknowledge receipt of a posting.

The INDEX command (not to be confused with the INDEX option) will indicate by return e-mail the current archives for the List. For example, the command index mylist­l

*

* Archive files for the MYLIST-L list at LISTSERV.UNO.EDU

* (monthly logs)

*

* filename filetype GET PUT size (bytes) date time

* -------- -------- --- --- ------------ ---------- --------

MYLIST-L LOG0309 LOG OWN 9,306 2003-09-26 10:03:37

MYLIST-L LOG0310 LOG OWN 11,266 2003-10-31 11:00:43

The MyList-L list has archives, LOG0309 and LOG0310 (for September and October of 2003). To retrieve the September 2003 archive, use the command

get mylist-l log0309

To determine which Listserv's are available at UNO, point a browser to:

http://www.lsoft.com/lists/LIST_Q.html

Enter listserv.uno.edu in the "Look for" slot, click "Host name", un-check the other options, and finally click the Search button. The resulting page lists the Lists that have listserv.uno.edu as part of the host name; i.e., those that are available at UNO.

NOTE: To perform any web-related activities, your browser must have "cookies enabled".

Post a message to a Listerv list via web interface

Point a browser to http://listserv.uno.edu

Click the link entitled Subscriber's Corner

Click the link entitled Server Archives

Click the link entitled Post to the list

When prompted, enter your complete UNO e-mail address (i.e., abcdefgh@uno.edu) and your Listserv password (which could be different from the password of your e-mail account) and click the Login button

In the Password Saved page, click the "follow this link" link

Enter the Subject line

Enter the text of your message. Alternatively, you may paste a previously prepared message (e.g., from a word processor) into the message section

Scroll to the bottom of the window and click the Send button

Listserv Management

Assuming that you are one of the owners of a UNO Listserv distribution list, you can perform certain actions empowered only to owners. As an owner, one of the first tasks is to welcome the new members of the List, especially if they were "bulk added" to the list (see the Bulk section later on this page). This welcoming message should include among other information items as the nature or purpose of the list, how to subscribe, and how to un-subscribe. This page could be referenced as a source of information for those new members.

Log onto the Listserv by visiting http://listserv.uno.edu and then lick the Mailing list Management Interface. Enter your Listserv username (i.e., you UNO e-mail address, which is not an alias) and your Listserv password (which may be different from your LAN/Exchange password). Click on the link named "follow this link". In the panel at the left, click the "List Management" link.

Subscribers:

Clicking the Subscribers button, you are able to (1) examine the Listserv characteristics of an individual member, or (2) delete an individual member, or (3) add an single member to the list. You can identify an individual member by real name or by e-mail address for the first two actions.

You can also review the list of e-mail addresses of the membership.

Configuration:

Clicking the Configuration button allows you to review and modify the characteristics of the Listserv.

Wizards:

Clicking the Wizards button brings a page of various type of wizards. Of particular interest is the one for Task-oriented wizards, specifically the one for changing the list's administrators: owners, editors, moderators, etc. Enter the e-mail address of the new administrator (or delete the existing address) and click the Update button.

Reports:

Clicking the Reports button allows you to review the name and e-mail address of the individual members (and review the characteristics of individual members).

Moderation:

Clicking the Moderation button allows you to list the messages still awaiting review and moderation before they are posted to the list membership.

Bulk:

Clicking the Bulk button allows you to add or delete members to or form the list based on the contents of a text file. (This text file must have one e-mail address per line, optionally followed by a real name on the same line). If an address appears more than once in the file, it is not added (or deleted) to or from the list. The list in the external text file can be (1) added to the existing member of the list; (2) added to the list after deleting all existing members; (3) used to delete matching members from the list, retaining all unmatched members.

A fourth option allows you to delete all existing members from the list.

Layout Customization:

Clicking the Layout Customization button allows you to modify the graphical interface for the Listserv.

Templates:

Clicking the Templates button allows you to modify the welcome or the farewell messages when a new member joins the list or an existing member unsubscribes from the list.

Command:

Clicking the Command button allows you to enter and subsequently execute a Listserv command

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