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Listserv FAQ

List Subscribers

List Owners

VSA Information

References  - keyword and config file mapping


Q: How do I create a new mailing list?
A: Any Vanderbilt Local Service Provider  can create a mailing list.

Q: What types of lists are available?
A: There are three list templates: Announcement Only, Moderated Discussion, Un-moderated Discussion.

Type Description Behavior
Announcement Only Used to send announcements to groups of email addresses.
Used for one-way communications, not discussions.
Messages sent by Owner/editor.
Additional moderators may be added.
Posts must be approved before sent to the entire list.
Discussion Moderated This list is designed for discussion among list members.
All messages must be approved by a moderator before being posted to the list.
Additional moderators may be added.
Discussion Un-moderated This list enables unfettered discussion among list members. Any member can post directly to the list.  

For more information on list types please review the List Owner's Manual . For description of the values of the default headers used at Vanderbilt see the  Default List Headers by List Type document .

Q: How do I allow other people/addresses to send to my Announcement list?
A: There are two options for allowing others to send to your Announcement list  documented here.

Q: I am the owner of an Announcement list, why am I not receiving the emails that I send to the list?
A: Owners of lists are not, by default, subscribers to a list. You must add your email address to the list of subscribers .

Q: How do I add/remove subscribers to a mailing list?
A: An overview of adding and removing subscribers  is available. Also, see the document  Introductory List Owner's Manual  for other important list owner information.

Q: How do I stop spam from getting to my list?
A: Many measures have been taken to prevent spam in the default configuration of the mailing list. This  L-Soft Tech Tip  offers more measures you can take to prevent spam on your list.

Q: How can I keep the list of subscribers to my list "fresh"?
A: LISTSERV offers tools to help keep the subscribers to your mailing list current, including probes and renewals. For detailed information on these tools see this  Tech Tip .

Q: How can I subscribe one list to another or set up nested lists (sub-lists)?
A: LISTSERV offers a robust facility for creating nested lists by using "super-lists" and "sub-lists".
"With a super-list, the membership of all the sub-lists is added (recursively) and duplicates are suppressed. The super-list is a normal list with its own archives, access controls, etc." -  List Owner's Manual by L-Soft.

Q: How do I manage my list(s), where is the web interface located?
A: LISTSERV's web interface is at list.vanderbilt.edu . Help for individual settings can be viewed by clicking on the "?" next to each setting. A good overview for list owners is at  Introductory List Owner's Manual.

Q: How do I configure my list so that replies to posts go to the original sender and not the list?
A: The former email list service was configured by default to send replies to the list directly to the poster's address. The default settings for  discussion lists  sends replies to the list. To change the Reply-To behavior of a list, see  this help document.

Q:How do I set my list to private, so that only list members can post?
A: The Send= keyword controls who can send to a list. For a private list set the Send= to Private. This document  provides the step by step through the process. Additional information on list options available to list owners are available in the  Introductory List Owner's Manual

Q: Why can't a subscriber to my list change their delivery options?
A: To log in to the web interface to LISTSERV, the subscriber must me be subscribed with their preferred email address. This address can be found by looking up the subscriber in  People Finder.

Q: I see a feature listed in the LISTSERV documentation, is that feature implemented at Vanderbilt?
A: In order to more effectively migrate from the current Majordomo system, the focus of the replacement effort was to replicate the services of the current environment and add new features as possible. Some of the new features available on LISTSERV would have complicated the migration away from Majordomo and/or presented a strain on resources. Therefore, the following options available in LISTSERV are not implemented at this time:

  • List Topics
  • List Notebooks
  • FIle Archives
  • DBMS and Mail-Merge Support
  • Vanderbilt's instance of LISTSERV implemented in Standalone Mode
  • Relayed File Distribution

Q: Can I send HTML formatted messages to a list?
A: Yes, just set your email client (e.g., Microsoft Outlook, Mac Mail, etc.) to format your message as HTML and send to the list as usual.

Q: What does this particular setting do in the web interface?
A: Each setting and/or function in the LISTSERV web interface has a question mark (?). When a question mark is clicked, a pop-up window with deatailed information will be displayed. L-Soft also has an extensive  library of manuals for LISTSERV .
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