Contents
About This Document...
This document is intended to provide you with the basic
information you need to
subscribe and
unsubscribe to a Listserv list via e-mail. Mail references will
be general; please refer
to the
documentation your your particular mail program or client for
specifics.
This document uses several fonts and styles to clarify the
meaning of the text:
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fixed text
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indicates computer responses that
you do not type.
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bold fixed text
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indicates words or characters that
you type.
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italic fixed text
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indicates words or characters you
type for which you must
substitute
text.
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italic text
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a general word or phrase for which
you must
substitute text (for example, for
listname you
might
substitute
WMST-L) and is used to
place emphasis on text. |
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bold text
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places emphasis on text.
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Note: Access to WAM labs at the University is
limited. You must have
a valid
University ID to use the labs.
What is a Listserv List?
E-mail is an important part of life at the University. The use
of e-mail is a common
requirement
in
academic classes. Many instructors require participation in e-mail
discussion groups
known as
Listserv
lists.
A Listserv list is a single e-mail address that contains the
e-mail addresses of all
its
members. When any one person sends an e-mail message to (or
replies to) that single
address,
everyone
on the list gets a copy of the message. This makes Listserv
lists an
ideal tool for
discussions, whether
they
are simply covering local topics within the University, or
specific topics of interest
among the
list
members.
Note: Not all mailing lists are Listserv
lists.
A Listserv list's address consists of two parts - a
listname and a
host-address. The
listname generally reflects the topic discussed on the
list. The host is
the computer on
which
the list resides. For instance, listserv.umd.edu is the
University of Maryland
Listserv
host. It
handles
a large number of lists, with names such as WMST-L (the Women's
Studies List) and BIOL105
(the Intro
to Biology list).
An example of a full Listserv list address would be:
WMST-L@listserv.umd.edu
Note: For information about how to start a new
Listserv list, see
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/lists/background/4009/.
Are There Other Kinds of E-mail Lists?
A Listserv list is one type of e-mail discussion list. Others
include
Majordomo and Coursemail mailing
lists. They may have different procedures and commands than those
shown in this
document and are beyond the scope of this document; we mention
them here to alert you to possible differences. For more about Majordomo,
visit:
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/lists/majordomo. For
more about Coursemail,
visit:
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/lists/coursemail.
Another type of e-mail discussion medium used at the University
is known as a mail
reflector. Most mail reflector addresses include
@umd.edu within the
address. When in doubt, contact the Office of Information Technology (OIT)
Help Desk with the full
address of the mailing list. For more about mail reflectors,
visit:
http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/topics/email/reflectors.
Note: Certain University departments run their
own mail
reflectors, but
these are beyond the scope of this document.
How Do I Get Listserv Services?
Subscribing is just one of many services Listserv
provides. Remember that whenever
you are
asking
for a service (as opposed to participating in the e-mail
discussion), you must
send mail
to:
LISTSERV@host-address
For services relating to lists that are local to the
University, this would be:
LISTSERV@listserv.umd.edu
Keep in mind that there is no "E" at the end of Listserv. Also
keep in mind that you
are writing
to a
machine for service, not a person, and it will ignore the
Subject: line of
your
message. So you may leave the subject line blank.
Your specific request for service, in the form of a Listserv
command, goes in the
message-text
portion of your e-mail message. Throughout this document, we will
illustrate this
service-request
process with:
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Send a mail message to:
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LISTSERV@hostaddress
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Subject:
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(none)
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Message-text:
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listserv-command
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How Do I Subscribe to a List?
When you are subscribing to a list, use the Listserv SUB
command in the
message-text of
the
request for service, along with the listname and your first and
last names (not
your e-mail
address).
To subscribe to a list that is local to the University, send
mail to
listserv@listserv.umd.edu. Use the SUB
(subscribe) command in the body of
your mail
message to the host computer (the machine connected to the
network). You must
also include
the
listname and your-first-and-last-names:
SUB listname
your-first-and-last-name
For example:
SUB WMST-L Jane Doe
Your name is important because that is what appears on a list
of list members. You
should
not put your e-mail address here.
You will receive (usually immediately) an e-mail acknowledgment
of your
subscription. Unless the
list is one of the relatively few that require an additional
confirmation from you
(usually just a
reply
saying "OK"), all that you need to do to start
participating in the discussion is
read and
respond to
your e-mail.
When Sending Mail... Remember!
The important thing to remember when participating in a
discussion is that discussion
mail must
be
sent to the listname - as opposed to requests for services,
which go to
listserv. One
of
the two most frequent mistakes beginners make is to confuse these
two.
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If you are:...
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send mail to:
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Participating in a list
discussion...
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listname@hostaddress
For
example: WMST-L@listserv.umd.edu
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Requesting system services...
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LISTSERV@hostaddress
i.e., when subscribing to a list
(see How Do
I
Subscribe
to a List?) and using other
services discussed in
this document
(see
How Do I End a
Listserv Subscription?)
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When Replying to Listserv Mail...
How replies are handled varies with the mail-handling program
you use. Refer to the
documentation on
your mail program or client for specifics on the following
sections.
When you reply to someone's mail that you received through a
Listserv list, there are
two
important questions to answer before you can type your reply
(depending on the way the
list has been
set up).
Do I want to include the original message in my reply?
In a discussion, the best reply to this question is
yes. It is useful to
include in your
reply the material to which you are replying, because the
discussion may have progressed
beyond what
you've seen, and will need context. Use your mail programs editing
features to remove
irrelevant
lines of
a message.
Who am I sending this back to?
You need to determine whether your reply goes to the entire
list (probably the address
on the
Reply-to: line, or just the sender (probably the address on
the From:
line. In your
outgoing
mail,
make sure you're sending it to the intended audience; for example,
try not to send
replies directed
to
the original sender to the entire list.
Note: The first time you reply to mail from a
given list, look at these
two lines
to
ascertain where they are going.
Getting a Basic Command List
To get a basic command list, send mail to the Listserv service
address with the
command:
GET LISTSERV REFCARD
This will return a file with basic Listserv commands which you
can save and refer to
later.
How Do I End a Listserv List Subscription?
When you no longer wish to be part of a discussion list, use
the Listserv
service-request
procedure
(see How Do I Get Listserv Services? to send the
command:
UNSUB listname
For example, if you will not be able to access your e-mail
account regularly over the
summer
break to
read/send messages to the WMST-L (Women's Studies) list, then you
would type UNSUB
WMST-L as the first line in your mail message to
LISTSERV@listserv.umd.edu. If you
do not
unsubscribe from your lists when you leave, mail messages from
your lists will accumulate
in your
e-mail
account and reduce the amount of storage space available for other
mail and files.
If you are not able to access your account for several days and
you don't want to have
a large
backlog of discussion items waiting for you when you get back,
use the service-request
procedure
(see
How Do I Get Listserv Services? with the SET
NOMAIL command to
suspend
delivery of list mail. Then, when you return, use SET MAIL
to resume mail
delivery.
SET listname NOMAIL
SET listname MAIL
Using our earlier example for the WMST-L (Womens Studies) list,
you can turn mail off
for this
list
by sending mail to LISTSERV@listserv.umd.edu. Just type
SET WMST-L
NOMAIL in
the body
of the mail message. To turn the mail on, send mail to
LISTSERV@listserv.umd.edu
and type
SET
WMST-L MAIL as the mail message.
How Can I Find Out What Other Listserv Lists Are Available?
Use the LIST command and the service-request procedure
(see How
Do I Get
Listserv Services to get a listing of all the publicly
available lists handled by the
host
machine
to which you mail the request. The host machine at the University
is
listserv.umd.edu.
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Send a mail message to
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LISTSERV@listserv.umd.edu
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Subject:
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(none)
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Message-text:
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LIST
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Note: Not all Listserv lists are advertised
publicly; they are private
lists and
will not
show up via the LIST command.
Getting Help
If you want more detailed help, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/resources/manuals.asp or contact
the OIT Help Desk.
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