A list is a mailing list, maintained by a Listserv
program or a person, of people who share a common interest and wish
to communicate.
Anyone can subscribe to an unrestricted list by requesting a subscription
to a Listserv mailing address. Any message sent to the Listserv
address is duplicated and mailed to the address of every person
on the list. Everyone can respond to the message with each response
being sent to every subscriber by the Listserv program. The result
is a running group conversation. There are thousands of list groups
on virtually any topic of interest.
Caution: Be selective in maintaining subscriptions to various list
groups, you can easily begin to receive 50+ messages daily.
If the mailing list address begins with the word "LISTSERV",
(example: listserv@ksuvm.bitnet) then the list is automatically
maintained by a Listserv program.
Mailing list addresses that do not begin with Listserv are maintained
by a real person.
(example: Kidsphere-request@vms.cis.pitt.edu).
Click on the "List of Lists" drop-down list to see some lists.
A Listserv is a family of computer programs
that automatically manage mailing lists, by handling the details
of subscriptions (adding and deleting list members), storing documents
for retrieval by list members, and distributing messages posted
to the list.
As a list member, you can send a message to a central address (the
Listserv's address). The Listserv duplicates your message and sends
a copy to each person subscribed to your mailing list.
The distinction between mailing addresses of the Listserv software
and the list itself is important.
The Listserv software automatically handles the details of subscriptions
and mail distributions; the list is the group of subscribers holding
a common interest.
To subscribe to a mailing list, you must send your request to the
Listserv mailing address. Once you are on a mailing list, you use
the list mailing address to post and distribute messages.
For example, suppose you want to subscribe to the AEDNET mailing
list. (This list is an international electronic network for those
interested in distance education.)
To subscribe to AEDNET use the Listserv address: listserv@alpha.acast.nova.edu
Once subscribed, to distribute a message use the listname (AEDNET)
address: AEDNET@alpha.acast.nova.edu
There are two types of lists, one that is managed automatically by
a LISTSERV computer program and another that is managed by a person
or maintainer.
(Censorship is permissible in manually managed lists since list membership
is optional).
Each LISTSERV program (for automatically managed lists) and each maintainer
(for lists managed by a person) has a unique mailing address. This
is the mailing address used to subscribe to and unsubscribe from a
particular list under that management of the LISTSERV program or moderator.
Each list has a unique mailing address different from the LISTSERV
or maintainers mailing address. The list mailing address is the one
used to send a message to all members on the list.
How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe - automated lists (LISTSERVs)
Use LISTSERV address to subscribe to and unsubscribe from automatically
managed lists.
Example: listserv@unb.ca is the Uniform
Resource Locator (URL) address used to subscribe to the list "Sais-l",
a forum for exchanging ideas about making science more appealing to
students.
SUB (Subscribe) is the program command to request subscription to
"Sais-l". Thus, you would send an e-mail message to "listserv@unb.ca"
with a single line message of:
SUB sais-l YourFirstName YourLastName
How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe - Manually Managed Lists
Use the list name mailing list to subscribe to or unsubscribe from
manually managed lists.
Example: "telecom-request@eecs.ndu.edu"
is the URL address used to request subscription to the list "telecom",
a forum for discussions concerning the telephone. Since you are requesting
subscription through a human list maintainer, no program command is
used. You simply state in the e-mail message that you want to be added
to or deleted from a particular list. Thus, to subscribe to the "telecom"
list, you would send an e-mail message to the maintainer addressed
as
"telecom-request@eecs.ndu.edu" and simply state "subscription to telecom
requested".
Sending Messages to Maintainer
To send a message directly to the person in charge of a particular
list, use the mailing address form:
owner-listname@list-URL-address
Sending Messages to Other Subscribers
Once you are on a mailing list, to distribute a message to all list
members, the mailing address form is:
listname@list-URL-address.
Thus, to send a science-related message to the members of the list
"Sais-l", (Remember, this list is for science educators.), you would
use the address "Sais-l@unb.ca", name a
subject, then input your message.
Note: the address "Listserv@unb.ca" is used to request subscription
to list "Sais-l".
The address "Sais-l@unb.ca" is used to distribute messages
to list members.
Finding Names of Lists
How do you find names of lists? A listing of
Internet mailing addresses of the lists can be obtained by sending
an e-mail message to: "mail-server@nisc.sri.com"
The message should contain the line:
send netinfo/interest-groups
Warning: The list of lists contains over 30,000 lines of text.
Practice Subscribing
To practice subscribing, Follow the steps listed
below.
Send email To: an address selected from the list of Listnames
below.
Type your Internet Address in From:
Type Subscribe followed by your first and last names as the
email message as shown in the example below.
To: listserv@bird_l.audobon.org From:jdoe@aol.com Message:Subscribe bird_l Joe Doe
Practice Unsubscribing
To practice unsubscribing, Follow the steps
listed below.
Send email To: an address selected from the list of Listnames
below.
Type your Internet Address in From:
Type Unsubscribe followed by your first and last names as the
email message as shown in the example below.
To: listserv@bicycle-l.twowheel.edu From:jdoe@aol.com Message:Unsubscribe bicycle-l Joe Doe
