How
do I set up a new mailing list?
(1) Go to your Mail Manager
(http://yourdomain.com/menu)
(2) Create a list in Mail
Manager by clicking on "New List."
(3) Add the name of the list.
You'll get a message giving you instructions, which are repeated for you
below.
(4) Click "edit list"
and you're asked to add the maintainer, password, and max #
e-mails archived.
-
The maintainer is the
e-mail of the person in charge of the list.
-
The password is the
list password.
-
Max # e-mails archived is
the number of "back issues" to be saved and/or sent when
someone requests them.
From the Mail Manager, you have
access to "Mailing List Manager," also called "Xcommand"
(from the name of the program in UNIX). This is a mailing list
administration program.
How
do I subscribe to a list?
Simply send a message with the word
"subscribe" in the Subject: field to the
"-request" address of that list.
To: listname-request@domainname.com
Subject: subscribe
What is a Digest
and how does one subscribe?
A Digest is a compendium of
messages or newsletters. A Digest sends all messages at once rather one at a
time.
To subscribe to a Digest, one
simply sends a message with the word "subscribe" in the Subject:
field. For example:
To: listname-d-request@domainname.com
Subject: subscribe
How
do I send an e-mail to the list?
To send an e-mail to the
mailinglist, use the following address:
To: listname@domainname.com
How
does one unsubscribe from a list?
To unsubscribe from a
mailinglist, simply send a message with the word "unsubscribe" in
the Subject: field to the -request address of that list:
To: listname-request@domainname.com
Subject: unsubscribe
To unsubscribe from a Digest
To unsubscribe from a Digest, write an e-mail like this.
To: listname-d-request@domainname.com
Subject: unsubscribe
How
do I administer the list?
The Mailing List Manager (Xcommand),
available from the Mail Manager (domainname.com/menu), allows the
administrator of the list to:
You can get to the Mailing List
Manager by selecting the list from under 'Edit List' in the Mail Manager,
then selecting 'Mailing List Manager.' You will need to know the Maintainer
e-mail and password to administer the list. The results of the commands will
be sent to the list maintainer's e-mail address.
I
would like to set up a newsletter. Can I get SmartList to do this?
Sure. When you use SmartList to
send out an electronic newsletter, tell SmartList not to accept
"foreign" submissions. Anyone who signs up will still receive the
list but cannot send to it. If you want all your lists to be newsletters,
you can skip the delink step. If you're not sure, go ahead and delink it.
For the list "listname,"
[1] * Edit the rc.custom file and the rc.init file. When using telnet, you
may use the editor called vi ("vee-eye,") which is installed on
the server. However, you may wish to edit the files using ftp instead.
[2] vi /home/username/domainname-mail/listname/rc.custom
uncomment (delete the #s) foreign_submit
comment out (precede with a #) foreign_submit= yes
[3] vi /home/username/domainname-mail/listname/rc.init
uncomment (delete #s) foreign_submit
comment out (precede with #) foreign_submit=
yes
[4] * Delink the accept file (Use telnet for this step):
cd /home/username/domainname-mail
type:
.bin/delink listname/accept
When these steps are completed, the owner may send to the list by emailing
to listname@domainname.com. If anyone else attempts to mail to the list, it
will be sent to the owner rather than the list. Since the owner is now the
only address in the accept file for the list, no other submissions will be
accepted. (You may want to type vi accept to be sure no one else snuck in
there.)
N.B.: Editing the rc.init file means that all lists created thereafter will
also function as newsletters.
I
already have a list of addresses for my mailing list. How can I subscribe
the entire list?
The 'dist' file is the
distribution list -- the list of recipients. To add a pre-existing list of
recipients, copy it into the dist file:
/home/username/domainname-mail/listname/dist
You can add a short list by hand or by cut-and-paste. For a really long
list, you may want to download the dist file, edit it using a word
processing program, save it as text or ASCII, and then upload the edited
file.
The following conditions apply:
-
One subscriber per line.
-
Empty lines are allowed.
-
The mail address of the
subscriber must be the first word on the line.
-
Comments may follow the
address (but separated from the address by at least one whitespace
character).
-
Everything preceding the
line containing:
(Only addresses below this line can be automatically removed)
is write-protected from changes (i.e. these addresses can never be
automatically/accidentally unsubscribed).
-
If the line:
(Only addresses below this line can be automatically removed)
is not present at all, automatic unsubscriptions to this list are
impossible.
-
New subscribers will always
appear on the line immediately following the last filled entry in the
dist file.
Some sample entries (the
preferred format):
joe@some.where
joe@some.where (some comment)
joe@some.where (some comment) (some more comments)
Depreciated, but allowed:
<joe@some.where>
<joe@some.where> some comment
<joe@some.where> (some comment)
Not allowed:
(some comment) joe@some.where
some comment <joe@some.where>
Note: adding to the dist file for a list automatically adds to the accept
file as well, unless you have turned off foreign submissions.
How
do I create a moderated list?
A moderated list means that
every submission to the list goes through your list maintainer before it
actually gets posted to the list.
(1) First create a file named "moderators."
It should contain the fully qualified mail addresses of all the moderators
for this list (i.e. just
local usernames are not sufficient, at least include an @host or host! ).
(2) Then uncomment the appropriate "moderated_flag" line in
rc.custom.
From then on all mail that does not contain an "Approved:
the_address_of_one_of_the_moderators" field is forwarded to all the
moderators.
One of the moderators should then resend the mail to the list after adding
an "Approved: his_own_address" field to the header (and possibly
editing the contents of the mail). It will be no problem if several
moderators resubmit the same submission concurrently, since the mailinglist
will filter out duplicates anyway (i.e. only the first one will go out and
be archived).
Where
can I get more information about SmartList?
For more advanced uses,
the author of SmartList has written a manual. This used to be our FAQ. You
can download it in three parts from
http://www.attention.com/smartlist1.html
http://www.attention.com/smartlist2.html
http://www.attention.com/smartlist3.html
There is also a SmartList mailing list. Send in your subscription requests
to :
SmartList-request@informatik.rwth-aachen.de
You can look at the history of the smartlist mailing list by going to the
SmartList Archive
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~casterln/smartlist-arc/maillist.html
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