Frequently Asked Questions about Mailing Lists

Send a request to the listserv maintainer to have your list archived. You can do this by sending e-mail to listmgr@uiuc.edu. Only a year's worth of messages will be stored.

Your list must be configured to be archived with web access. The best place to start if you want to access your list archives would be the following address:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/archives/index.html

The notebook files are kept for one year. The notebook file of the particular month of the preceding year is normally removed on the 28th of each month. If you want to keep these, you will need to transfer them to your own system.

To find out what archive notebooks are available for your list, simply send the "INDex listname" command to LISTSERV.

To delete an existing archive notebook, simply execute a PUT operation for the notebook in question without sending any other text.  For instance, send an email with the following as the only content in the body of the message (be sure to type the real name of your list instead of MYLIST):

PUT MYLIST LOG9607 PW=mypersonalpw

This command without any other additional text would delete MYLIST LOG9607 from the server.

Two important issues:

1. This command MUST be issued by e-mail.  It cannot be issued via the "Execute a LISTSERV command" facility of the web management interface.
2. NOTE: You MUST turn off your signature file (if one is enabled in your mail client) in order to successfully delete files. If you do not, LISTSERV will store your signature file in place of the file you are trying to delete, rather than deleting the file.
   

Owner's manual reference: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180538

"An error occurred while processing file 112880 from joedoe@LUCKY-ISP.COM:
Mail has been received for delivery to the LISTNAME list from a user which had been served out."

This is an error message indicating that someone who has been denied access to the listserv service is trying to send a message to your list. There may be times when your own subscribers can get "served out " if they send too many bad commands to the listserv service. This can be caused by a broken mail vacation program or by their lack of knowledge on using the service.

To allow a legitimate subscriber to post again, send the following command to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu:

serve served-out-email-address
( i.e., serve subscribername@uiuc.edu )

For reference: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180492

You should check who the message is referring to. Listserv will "serve out" people who send too many bad commands to listserv and some of these could be one of your list subscribers.

Listserv also serves out spammers. So, if it looks like a spammer, then you can disregard these messages and leave the spammer "served out" (denied posting access to the list).

But, if it is one of your list subscribers or another owner, you may want to serve them back onto the list.

To allow a legitimate subscriber to post again, send the following command to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu:

serve served-out-email-address
( i.e., serve subscribername@uiuc.edu )

For reference: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180492

As a non-quiet list owner, you will only receive error messages when a subscriber has been served off and then tries to post a message to the list.

You will not receive error messages when the subscriber tries to send a command such as unsubscribing.

The listserv maintainer, however, does receive an error message when a served off subscriber tries to send commands to the listserv server.

If a subscriber's address causes an error of some sort, Listserv will monitor this address for up to 4 days even if you remove the subscriber. If you continue to see these errors after 4 days, send e-mail to listmgr@uiuc.edu.

In order to be hosted here, the list will have to have a strong tie to a university sponsered program. If this applies to your organization, we should be able to host it; otherwise you may want to look into using something like yahoogroups (http://groups.yahoo.com/). See also the List Guidelines page: http://www.cites.illinois.edu/maillist/guidelines.html.

Changing the name of a list requires the server to be shut down, which is something CITES tries to avoid when possible.

It can be done, though, if you feel it is necessary and it does not cause undue effort or inconvenience to other users.

Clients may contact aitsnet@uillinois.edu to receive a GNU Mailman listserv with a listname@uillinois.edu address.

Eudora has been known to be able to deliver mail to large lists of recipients. There are reports that lists of up to 500 recipients have been distributed successfully. See the following webdoc for more info:

http://www.eudora.com/techsupport/kb/918hq.html

Option 1: Go to
http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME
(replace LISTNAME with the actual list name).

Option 2: Use the command
set LISTNAME mail for subscriber@uiuc.edu
or
set LISTNAME digest for subscriber@uiuc.edu

More information is given in Tips for List Owners.

Check that their subscription options are not set to Shorthdrs.

Also, check that Default-Options in the list header is not set to short Listserv headers.

You will need to provide the email addresses and names of the new primary and secondary list owners to the listserv maintainer.

You will need to have the current list owner provide the list file to the UIUC list maintainer. The preferred method is to "GET" the list and mail it to listmgr@uiuc.edu. If the list is archived, the owner will need to send the notebook archive files as well.

You may want to have the current list owner contact the UIUC Listserv maintainer directly to facilitate the migration of the list by having them send email to listmgr@uiuc.edu .

You will need to set up a top or bottom banner for your list. You can do this by going to the Templates section of the web interface for list owners and creating a TOP_BANNER or a BOTTOM_BANNER template.

The web interface for list owners can be found at:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?LMGT1

You must be the list owner to do this. The easiest method is to use the web interface for list owners to edit your list header. The current address for the web interface is:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?LMGT1

You can change your list header by clicking on the "Configuration" tab on the list owner web interface form. Then you just edit the header as you need and press the update button.

Listserv adds the spaces because the web archives use <pre> tags and the spaces balance and line things up for beautification purposes. You can explicitly set your header type and turn off listserv adding the extra spaces with:

SET listname IETFhdr

The consequence of that is your archives and possibly digests will have spacing problems in their visual display, so you'll have to prioritize which you want to emphasize.

There is a keyword in the list header called X-Tags that affects this. You should contact your list owner about this setting. The "Mail header style" setting in the your subscription options will affect this. You may want to set this to "sendmail-style" for the cc line to look as you might expect.

To do this, you need to set the SUBJecthdr subscription option for your subscribers. Or the subscribers can set this themselves. This will set a default subject tag, which is normally the name of the list.

If you want this to be the default for new subscriptions, then you would set this option in the Default-options= keyword of your list header.

See the following owner's manual entry for info on this:

http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180503

If you want to change the subject tag from its default, you would use the Subject-Tag= keyword in the list header. You can read a description of this keyword in the Keyword Reference at the following link:

http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#kSubjectTag

Use the web interface for list owners:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?LMGT1

Then click the "Templates" button and select the template you want to edit from the pull-down menu.

If you manually added the subscriber's address to the list, did you set the subscriber using the address that will show as being the return address when the subscriber sends e-mail to the list? This is the address that is shown on the From line of mail this subscriber sends.

Have the subscriber send you an e-mail to confirm what their actual address is. In most cases, the From address of students will be their netid@express.uiuc.edu address and not their netid@uiuc.edu alias.

The easiest method is to use the web interface for list owners to check list subscriptions at:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?LMGT1

You can see the subscriber list by clicking on the "Subscribers" tab on the list owner web interface form. There is a "Review the List Membership" section toward the bottom of the page, with links that allow you to either view the list of subscribers in a browser window or have it mailed to you.

Or you can send the message:

review listname

to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu.

The first thing to check is whether this person is subscribed under more than one address. You can do this by using the account management section for your list in the web interface to listserv. Replace your listname with LISTNAME in the following link:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?ACTMGR1=LISTNAME

Once you're at the account management page, use the "examine a subscription" form and enter the NetID of the person in question to search for all subscriptions with this NetID in the address. If you find more than one for the same person, you can delete them and this should remove them completely from the list. You can also try searching on the person's name.

There is another possible cause for persons receiving messages from lists they are not subscribed to. They may be getting forwarded mail from another subscriber. This is a little more difficult to track down. You should have the person forward to you the message they received from the list and have them be sure to include all the e-mail headers, as explained in How to Include Email Headers.

To use a ph alias as the address of the list owner, this address will have to show in the From line of mail received by Listserv. Otherwise, Listserv will not accept it.

You can use the web interface by visiting the following address (note: be sure to put your list name and your subscription email address where shown)

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?ACTED1=LISTNAME&a=EMAILADDRESS

Or you can do this via an email command you send to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu. In the body of the message, type the following command:

Query listname FOR email-address

To change your subscription options, you can do this with the same webform you used to check your options, or you can do this via an email command you send to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu. In the body of the message, type the following command:

SET listname option FOR email-address

For example, to change a subscription to allow it to receive copies of messages posted to the list, use the following command in the body of the message you send to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu.

SET listname repro FOR email-address

If you are the list owner and want to change all subscribers' options, you can issue the same command but use a wildcard character in the email address like the following example:

SET yourlistname repro FOR *@*

If you do this, you will probably want to change the "Default_options" keyword setting in your list header so new subscribers will have the correct options when they are added to the list.

No, but you can use a web link for this purpose. It would look similar to the following:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME
(replace LISTNAME with the actual list name)

Note that the subscriber will have to log in with his or her personal password.

These are not recommended, but Mailto links can be used to point to the following subscribe/unsubscribe list alias addresses. (Be sure to replace "listname" with the actual name of your list.)

listname-subscribe-request@listserv.illinois.edu
listname-unsubscribe-request@listserv.illinois.edu

Note that these aliases are useful only for persons who have already registered a name and personal password for the address they are using. Their web browser will also need to be configured to use the address they are registered with, when using the mailto link.

A better alternative would be to use a URL such as the following (be sure to replace "listname" with the actual name of your list.):

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME&A=1

You can do this by using the account management section for your list in the web interface to listserv. Replace LISTNAME with your listname in the following link:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?ACTMGR1=LISTNAME

Once you're at the account management page, use the "examine a subscription" form and enter the address of the person in question. When the subscription is found, you can delete it by clicking the delete button. If the address is no longer valid, you may want to set the "Notification options" to not notify the user.

You can use the web interface for list owners to do this. The address for the web interface is http://listserv.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/wa.cgi?LMGT1. You can add groups of subscribers by clicking on the "Bulk Op." tab on the list owner web interface form. Be sure to read the notes about using the form. This form allows you to delete all subscribers if selected. There is a known problem with using Apple files with the bulk op., so you will need to save your file as an "ms-dos" file.

Alternatively, you can use Listserv "jobs," which are emailed to listserv. You can learn more about this from the following entries in the owner's manual:

Adding subscribers: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180475
Deleting subscribers: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180476

You must be the list owner to do this. The easiest method is to use the web interface for list owners to make the subscription list changes. The current address for the web interface is:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?LMGT1

You can manage your subscribers by clicking on the "Subscribers" tab on the list owner web interface form. You can either add or change subscriptions via this form. You can enter partial names or addresses to find a particular subscription.

For reference: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180466

You can do this by using the account management section for your list in the web interface to listserv. Replace LISTNAME with your listname in the following link:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/wa.cgi?ACTMGR1=LISTNAME

Once you're at the account management page, use the "examine a subscription" form and enter just the NetID of the person in question to search for all subscriptions with this NetID in the address. You can also try searching on the person's name. Once you find the subscriber whose address you want to change, make the change to their address and then click the "Update" button.

Note: this will not work when changing from netid@uiuc.edu to netid@illinois.edu or vice versa, due to a illinois.edu domain alias that is currently set on the listserv server. This alias causes the server to treat the netid@illinois.edu address the same as if it were netid@uiuc.edu. In this case, you will need to unsubscribe the netid@uiuc.edu address and then re-subscribe using the netid@illinois.edu address. The domain alias should not affect changing other domain addresses.

You can issue the CONFIRM command for a subscriber:

[QUIET] CONFIRM listname FOR net-address

This can be done via the web interface at http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa , or by sending the above message to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu as an email command.

If needed, you can waive subscription renewals for a particular address by issuing the following command.

[QUIET] SET listname NORENEW FOR net-address

You can try setting Send= Private,list@of.other.addresses and "bounce" the message to the list or have them send it directly.

If that works, and if either:

(a) There are a large number of those "other addresses" (more than you would want to explicitly code on that line)

or

(b) the list of "other addresses" is relatively dynamic

then you could set up another list of the "other addresses", configured as Send=Editor,Default-Options=NoMail,Conceal and use Send= Private,(otherlist) to add the second list to the first list.

You should first try to contact the current owner(s) and ask them to make this change.

The best way to contact a list owner is to address your e-mail to listname-request@listserv.illinois.edu. (Substitute the name of the list for listname in the email example above.)

If the current owner is unreachable, you can request the list manager make this change in the current owner's place by sending e-mail to listmgr@uiuc.edu.

You must be the list owner to do this. You can add a list owner in one of three ways. You can use the mail command "GET" to retrieve the list header and make the additions you want. Or you can use the web interface for list owners to make the addition. The address for the web interface is http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?LMGT1

You can edit the list header by clicking on the "Configuration" tab on the list owner web interface form.

Add another "Owner=" line to the owner's list on the list header with the new owner's e-mail address. If you are adding a "Primary" owner, add this line above the "Quiet:" line in the owner's list. If you are adding a "Secondary" owner, add this line below the "Quiet:" line in the owner's list.

Or if you need, you can request the list maintainer to make this change for you by sending your request to listmgr@uiuc.edu.

You must be the list owner to make this change. You can make this change yourself in one of three ways. You can use the mail command "GET" to retrieve the list header and make the changes you want. Or you can use the web interface for list owners to make these changes. The address for the web interface is:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?LMGT1

You would change an owner by removing the address and name of the old owner and replacing it with the address and name of the new owner. This is done in the section of the list header where you specify the owners (Owner=).

You can change your list header by clicking on the "Configuration" tab on the list owner web interface form. Then you edit the header as needed and press the update button.

Or if you need, you can request the list maintainer to make this change for you by sending your request to listmgr@uiuc.edu.

If you are not the current list owner, you will need to contact the owner and request this change through them. To contact a list owner, address your email to:

listname-request@listserv.illinois.edu
(i.e., mylist-l-request@listserv.illinois.edu).

If primary ownership of a list is to be changed, it is recommended that the current primary owner stay on as a non-primary owner for a period of time to allow for a smooth transition for the new owner. This is done by moving the outgoing primary owner address below the"Owner= quiet:" line in the list header and putting the new primary owner address it its place.

Add a subscriber or an editor (if this is an edited type list) with a different email address. Then configure your e-mail client to put this address in the From line of the header of the e-mail message it sends to Listserv.

They should check their "subscription type" setting in their subscription options for the list. They may need to change their options to either of the following settings.

Digest (MIME format) [NOHTML MIME DIGEST]
-or-
Digest (HTML format) [HTML DIGEST]

They can do this at the following web address:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME
(replace LISTNAME with the actual list name)

Use the "Request a new list" link on the CITES Listserv Request Forms page:

https://listserv.illinois.edu/request-form.html

to request a new list that is to be a super-list of your existing lists.

Then, send a follow up email to the CITES Listserv Manager (listmgr@uiuc.edu) including the names of all the lists so the appropriate super- and sub-list modifications can be made. (This is a very rare request, and not presently an option of the current form.)

For more information, please see the relevant section 2.13.12. "Super-lists" and "sub-lists" of the LISTSERV Owner's Manual:

http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc107130966

To help make your list more secure, use the Validate= keyword, which determines what level of validation (if any) is performed for various LISTSERV commands that you use to manage your list. See the following manual entry for security keywords:

http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180425

If you want to make your list less prone to spoofed/forged posts, you can try setting the Send= keyword to something like "...,Confirm". The Confirm parameter will cause the list to generate a confirmation request that is sent to the address of the person who posted the message. The poster will then need to reply to the confirmation request via the "ok" mechanism for the post to be accepted. Here is the entry in the owner's manual that talks about this:

http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#_Toc90180431

You can also make the list a "private" list, which only allows subscribers to post to it and you can verify the subscribers.

Although CITES Spam Control has reduced the quantity of spam that arrives on mailing lists, spam can still arrive in some instances.

If your list is set to allow public postings, you can add the Filter= keyword and include the suspect address where the spam originated. As an example, you could add the following to your list header:

* Filter= Also, *@NAPLES.NET

(This setting should filter out any e-mail with From addresses that contain @NAPLES.NET.)

Additional options include:

• Changing your list to only allow subscribers to post to it.
• Changing the Confidential keyword setting to yes. This prevents your list name from showing up when someone sends the lists command to Listserv to get a copy of all the lists on the system.

For more information, see the Listserv at UIUC Unwanted Mail Policy page.

You can use the web interface at the following address:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?GETPW1=LMGT1

Or you can send the following e-mail command to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu:

PW ADD yourpassword

These are not used; you should set a personal password for your e-mail address. However, you can edit your list header and add the following keyword:

PW=yourlistpassword

To contact a list owner, you need to know the name of the list. Send a message to the following address, replacing "listname" with the actual name of the list:

listname-request@listserv.illinois.edu

Example: For the cites-announce list, the address to use would be:

cites-announce-request@listserv.illinois.edu

To find out what lists you are subscribed to:

You can use the web interface by visiting the following address. (Note: Be sure to put your list name and your subscription email address where shown.)

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME&a=EMAILADDRESS

Or you can do this via an email command you send to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu. In the body of the message, type the following command:

Query listname FOR emailaddress

(if you want to see options for all lists you are subscribed to, use "*" for the listname in the command above: Query * FOR emailaddress)

To change your subscription options:

You can use the same web form you used to check your options, or you can do this via an email command you send to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu. In the body of the message, type the following command:

SET listname option FOR email-address

For example, to change your subscription to allow you to receive copies of messages you post to the list, use the following command in the body of the message you send to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu.

SET listname repro FOR your-email-address

To subscribe or unsubscribe, you can use the web interface at the following address:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME&A=1
(replace LISTNAME with the actual list name)

Or you can send the following in the body of an email message to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu:

subscribe listname [full name]

To unsubscribe, send only the following in the body of a message to listserv@listserv.illinois.edu:

signoff listname

Many email clients allow you to set the From address of mail you send to whatever address you want.

If you set your From address to your netid@uiuc.edu address, then it should not matter what server you are using; Listserv will recognize the address. Note that you then need to be sure your netid@uiuc.edu alias points to your actual fully-qualified address, as explained in Your Email Address and the Email Redirection Service.

To use the web interface, go to the following address:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME&A=1
(replace LISTNAME with the actual list name)

Otherwise, you can use email commands to change your settings.

If using Outlook as your mail client, you can change your From address by changing your email address in the Accounts section.

If using Eudora, you can change your email address by creating a "Personality" under the Windows menu.

If using Pine as your mail client, you can change only the From address to your netid@uiuc.edu address. To do this, go into the setup configuration and change the user-domain to uiuc.edu .

If using Mutt as your mail client, create a .muttrc file and add the following line to it.

my_hdr From: Your name <netid@uiuc.edu>

The most common explanation is that your subscription options are not set to short Listserv headers.

If your "Mail header style" subscription option is set to "shorthdr," you will want to change it to "fullhdr" style.

To use the web interface to change your header options, go to the following address:

http://listserv.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/wa.cgi?SUBED1=LISTNAME
(replace LISTNAME with the actual list name)

There is a keyword called X-Tags that affect this. See the following link for more info:

http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8e/owner/owner.html#kXTags

The "Mail header style" setting in the subscriber's subscription options will also affect this. You may want to set this to "sendmail-style" for the cc line to look as you might expect.

When sending mail from your Express account, the From line will indicate the mail is from your netid@uiuc.edu alias address and the server will not recognize you if you are subscribed with your netid@express email address.