LISTSERV Help for List Owners

This document provides basic information about owning and managing a LISTSERV mailing list at WSU. If you need further assistance, here are some other ways to get it:

Check L-Soft's LISTSERV list owner's FAQ.
E-mail the WSU LISTSERV Administrator-- listmaster@wayne.edu.
Look it up in the documentation--
- L-Soft's LISTSERV Manuals - official LISTSERV documentation direct from the vendor. A List Owner's Manual can be downloaded in PDF format.
- Unofficial Listowner Manual - a wealth of information on list ownership; includes step-by-step tutorials, "How-To" guides, tools, tips, and dozens of links to other web resources.
Subscribe to LSTOWN-L: LISTSERV list owners' forum-- participate in discussions with others whose mailing lists run on L-Soft's LISTSERV software.

List owner duties and responsibilities

The list owner handles all day-to-day maintenance of the mailing list. This includes:

adding and removing subscribers
helping subscribers resolve problems and disputes
advertising the existence of the list, if necessary
removing bad addresses that cause "bounce notices"
monitoring list messages to ensure that subscribers follow the rules and stay on topic
making changes to the list header keywords for any desired customization

Sending commands to LISTSERV

You maintain your list by sending the appropriate command in an e-mail message to the listserv address. At WSU, the listserv address is LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU.

It is important that you send all commands from the same e-mail address that you specified as the list owner address when you established the list. Otherwise LISTSERV will fail to recognize you as the list owner and will not allow the command.

Your personal LISTSERV password

LISTSERV requires you to use a personal password for certain list maintenance operations. If you own more than one list, you can use the same personal password for each one. To obtain a personal password, send e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU with the command

PW ADD yourpassword

LISTERV will ask you to confirm the password by sending you a message and asking you to reply "OK."

If you forget your personal password, send the command

PW RESET

Then send a new PW ADD command to establish a new password.

Adding subscribers to your list

NOTE: Don't forget to add yourself to your own list if you wish to receive messages sent to it!

To manually add a subscriber to your list send e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU with the command

ADD listname netaddress fullname PW=yourpassword

where listname is the actual name of your list, netaddress is the person's e-mail address, fullname is the person's first and last names, and yourpassword is your personal LISTSERV password (see above).

If your list does not have a subscription setting of "Closed," users may add themselves to the list with the subscribe command.

You can send multiple ADD commands in the same message provided that each command begins on a new line. However, you have a large number of subscribers to add all at once it is more efficient to use the "bulk-add" method:

Adding multiple subscribers using the "Bulk-Add" method

To add a long list of subscribers, send an e-mail to listserv@lists.wayne.edu in the following format:

QUIET ADD listname DD=X IMPORT
//X DD *
user1@address Firstname Lastname
user2@address Firstname Lastname
user3@address Firstname Lastname
etc
/*

You may omit the full name if it is unavailable. No notification will be sent to the new subscribers. You may wish to post to the list after adding everyone to let them know the list is now ready.

Removing subscribers from your list

Send e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU with the command

DELETE listname netaddress PW=yourpassword

where listname is the actual name of your list, netaddress is the e-mail address of the person you are removing, and yourpassword is your personal LISTSERV password.

You can remove everyone from your list using the wildcard character (*) with the command

DELETE listname *@* PW=yourpassword

This will empty your list of all current subscribers. Instructors who run a list for a class should do this instead of creating a brand new list every semester. Remember to add yourself to the list again along with all the new subscribers.

Subscribers can remove themselves from your list with the signoff command. This must be sent from the same e-mail account that was used for the original subscription.

Reviewing the list header and subscribers

Send e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU with the command

REVIEW listname

LISTSERV will send you a return e-mail containing a copy of the list header followed by a listing of all the subscribers. If you just want to see the header, use the command

REVIEW listname (SHORT

Changing your list's header settings

It is possible to alter certain aspects of your list's behavior by changing the keyword settings in the list header. Changing the list header is a two-step process involving two separate LISTSERV commands: GET, to obtain a copy of the header; and PUT, to replace the old header with the revised one.

Step 1: Getting the list header

Send e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU with the command

GET listname (HEADER

LISTSERV will send you a return e-mail containing the list header preceded by the line:

PUT listname LIST PW=XXXXXXXX

Step 2: Putting the list header back

After you get the list header in your e-mail, compose a new message addressed to LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU. The text of this message should be the list header you just received, beginning with the PUT line. You can either use your e-mail program's Forward command, or cut-and-paste the header into the new message. Then do the following:

Remove any lines that are above the PUT line.
Replace the XXXXXXXX in the PUT command with your personal LISTSERV password.
Remove any '>' characters your e-mail program inserted in front of any lines
Make the desired changes to the list header.
Send the message containing the modified header to LISTSERV.

If there were no errors, you will receive a message back from LISTSERV saying that the header has been successfully replaced.

Creating custom Welcome/Farewell messages

Welcome and Farewell files can be set up to send a personalized message when someone subscribes to or unsubscribes from a list.

Address a new e-mail message to LISTSERV@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU
As the first line of the message, enter the command:
PUT listname WELCOME PW=yourpassword
Replace "WELCOME" with "FAREWELL" in the command as appropriate. Follow the command with the text of your Welcome or Farewell message.
Send the file to LISTSERV. If everything was done correctly, you will receive a confirmation message from LISTSERV that your file has been successfully stored.

Below is an example of a very simple WELCOME file. The SUBJECT line is optional; if it is omitted, LISTSERV places a generic subject line in the mail message.

PUT MARXBROS WELCOME PW=abcdefgh Subject: Welcome to Marxbros! Welcome! This is Marxbros, a forum for discussing the Marx Brothers and their films. The list owner is Quincy Adams Wagstaff (wagstaff@huxley.edu).

Deleting an obsolete list

List owners may not delete a list from the server. If you own a list that is no longer needed, please send a note to the WSU LISTSERV Administrator (listmaster@wayne.edu) and ask that the list be deleted.

C&IT reserves the right to remove any list for the following reasons:

The list has been inactive for a period of at least one year
Mail to the list owner's address bounces back as undeliverable
The list is not being used for University-related academic or administrative activities
The list violates the University's policy on Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources