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Email Discussion and Online Conferencing
Contents 1. Online Conferencing 2. Netnews/Usenet News 3. Listserv Email Lists 4. Listserv FAQ

Listserv Email Discussion Lists

  Listserv lists, sometimes called listproc lists or mail exploders, are mail-based discussion groups. A "list" is, in fact, a list of subscribers. When a piece of email is sent to the list, a server duplicates the note and sends a copy to each subscriber.  
   
 
     
How Interact with a List
  The key thing to remember is that every list has two addresses. There is the address of the list itself, such as mylist-l@uic.edu, and there is the address of the Listserv server, which, at UIC, is listserv@uic.edu.

Everything you send to the list gets duplicated and sent to all the subscribers. Send only notes to the list that you want everyone to see. Don't send other email regarding the administration of the list to the list itself.

If you want to do some administration of your list subscription, then send your request to the server, not to the list. Notes to subscribe, to unsubscribe, to get a list of subscribers, to retrieve various files, to set various options, all should go to the server, not the list. Or you can use the Listserv Web utility.

As an aside, many servers will recognize a special address such as mylist-l-request and forward notes to that address to the list owner, where "mylist-l" is the name of the list. If you are having trouble dealing with the list mylist-l@uic.edu, either subscribing or setting options, and want some help from the list owner, send a note to mylist-l-request@uic.edu.

Note: The details about how to deal with the administrative side of a list, including what address to use and what commands are acceptable, depend on exactly what server is used. Those details given there apply to the UIC listserver.

 
     
-- The Email Interface -- the Tried and True Way To Use Listserv
 
  • If you want to subscribe to mylist-l, and your name is Ada Byron, send a note to listserv@uic.edu with a body that says:
    subscribe mylist-l Ada Byron
  • If you want to send a note to all subscribers, send it note to: mylist-l@uic.edu

  • If you want to see a list of subscribers to mylist-l, send a note to listserv@uic.edu with the body: review mylist-l
  • If you want general help, send a note to listserv@uic.edu with the body: help
  • There are many other commands available, most of which are used rarely, but Listserv will tell you about them; you can get a reference card of commands send a note to listserv@uic.edu with the body: info refcard
  
     
-- The Web Interface -- the New Way to Use Listserv
   
     
How to Find New Lists
 
  • Send a note to listserv@uic.edu with the body lists and Listserv will tell you about all the lists on the listserv.uic.edu server.
  • Use the Online Mailing List Archive Web pages to see a list of UIC public Listserv lists, subscribe to them, browse their online archives, and post to them.
  • LSoft's Catalist is a searchable database of all public Listserv lists everywhere. (There's a link on the Listserv Main Menu.)
  
     
Other Features of a List
  Some lists are private and no one else can subscribe. Some lists are moderated and all notes must be approved by the list's moderator. Many lists keeps logs of its traffic and make its logs available to subscribers.

To find out more, send a note to listserv@uic.edu with the text info and Listserv will send you a list of documentation files. Use the text get filename filetype to actually obtain one of the documentation files.

 
     
So You Want to Be List Owner?
 

We're happy to create new lists to serve UIC groups. We do ask that a faculty member accept responsibility, although he or she can designate anyone else to do the actual maintenance.

 
     
-- Also Consider
 
  • Blackboard is a full-featured environment for Web course construction. It has richer features than Listserv for class discussions.
  • UIC Announce is preferred for making public announcements to a UIC audience.
 
     
Related Links
   
 

Email and Conferencing Previous: 2. Netnews/Usenet News Next: 4. Listserv FAQ

2005-7-19  ACCC Consultants
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