Table of Contents Preface - About This Manual Editorial Note - New Version Numbering Unicode (UTF-8) Support, Phase 1 LISTSERV Command Syntax Conventions Contacting L-Soft Section 1 Getting Started Section 2 About Mailing Lists and LISTSERV 2.1 What is LISTSERV®? 2.2 Who are the people involved? Section 3 Communicating with LISTSERV 3.1 Using the Web Interface to Communicate with LISTSERV 3.2 Using Email to Communicate with LISTSERV 3.3 Anatomy of a LISTSERV List 3.4 The “OK” Confirmation Method Section 4 Mailing List Types 4.1 One-Way Announcement Lists 4.2 Two-Way Discussion Lists 4.3 Moderated Lists Section 5 Introduction to the Web Interface 5.1 The Default Home Page 5.2 Logging In 5.3 Setting a LISTSERV Password 5.4 Changing the LISTSERV Password 5.5 Using the Toolbar 5.6 Setting Your Personal Preferences 5.6.1 General Preferences 5.6.2 Archive Preferences 5.6.3 Report Preferences 5.6.4 Newsletter Profiles 5.7 Editing a Page 5.8 Accessing CataList 5.8.1 Searching for a List Section 6 List and Subscriber Management Using the Web Interface 6.1 Using the List Management Dashboard 6.2 List Configuration 6.2.1 List Configuration Using the Wizard 6.2.1.1 Descriptions 6.2.1.2 Access Control 6.2.1.3 Distribution 6.2.1.4 Error Handling 6.2.1.5 List Maintenance 6.2.1.6 Security 6.2.1.7 Subscription 6.2.1.8 Other 6.2.2 Manual List Configuration 6.2.2.1 Hiding Parts of the Header 6.2.3 Topics 6.2.4 Normal List vs. Super-List 6.2.5 Mail-Merge 6.2.6 Alphabetical Keyword Listing Wizard 6.3 List Configuration Task Wizard 6.3.1 Administrators 6.3.1.1 What is an Owner? 6.3.1.2 What is an Editor? 6.3.1.3 What is a Moderator? 6.3.1.4 What is an Error? 6.3.1.5 What is a Notification? 6.3.2 Security 6.3.2.1 Levels of Validation 6.3.2.2 Subscription Options 6.3.2.3 Service Areas 6.3.2.4 Who May Review the List of Subscribers? 6.3.2.5 Who May Access the Archives? 6.3.2.6 Who May Post to the List? 6.3.2.7 Restricting Subscriber Privileges 6.3.3 Attachments 6.3.3.1 What is an Attachment? 6.3.3.2 MIME Attachments 6.3.3.3 UUEncoded Attachments 6.3.3.4 HTML Messages 6.3.3.5 Exchange and Outlook Attachments 6.3.3.6 Size Limits 6.3.3.7 Content Filtering 6.3.4 Probes 6.3.4.1 What is Probing? 6.3.4.2 What is Active Probing? 6.3.4.3 What is Passive Probing? 6.3.5 Digesting and Indexing 6.3.5.1 What is a Digest? 6.3.5.2 What is an Index? 6.3.5.3 What is a Plain Text Digest? 6.3.5.4 Displaying UTF-8 Encoded Messages in the Body of a Digest 6.3.5.5 What is an HTML Digest? 6.3.5.6 What is a MIME Digest? 6.3.6 Subject Tags 6.3.6.1 How do I make SUBJECTHDR a default option? 6.3.6.2 Why would a subscriber want a subject tag? 6.3.6.3 Why specify a different Subject-Tag? 6.3.6.4 Why would you make SUBJECTHDR the default? 6.3.6.5 Why set the SUBJECTHDR tag for all subscribers? 6.3.7 CataList 6.3.7.1 Why List in CataList? 6.3.7.2 Missing Listing in CataList 6.3.7.3 HTML Description in CataList 6.3.7.4 Hide Header from CataList 6.3.8 Banners 6.3.8.1 What is a Banner? 6.3.8.2 HTML vs. Text Banners 6.3.9 Mail Templates 6.4 Subscriber Management 6.4.1 Adding a New Subscriber to the List 6.4.2 Examining or Deleting a Subscription 6.4.3 Reviewing List Members 6.4.4 Bulk Operations 6.5 Submitting LISTSERV Commands Section 7 List Moderation Using the Web Interface 7.1 Accepting or Rejecting the Message 7.2 Viewing the Message 7.3 Subscriber Settings Section 8 Generating List Management Reports in the Web Interface 8.1 List Reports 8.2 Subscriber Reports 8.3 List Activity Reports Section 9 Customizing Mail and Web Templates Using the Web Interface 9.1 Forcing the Browser to Use a Specific Character Set 9.2 Using the HTML Mail Template Gallery 9.3 Using a Conditional Expression Evaluator Section 10 Working with Archives in the Web Interface 10.1 The Server Archive Index 10.2 Viewing List Archives 10.3 The Archive Index 10.4 Viewing an Archived Message 10.5 Subscribing, Unsubscribing, or Updating a List from the Archives 10.6 UTF-8 Archive Searches 10.6.0.1 Known Issues Section 11 Posting Messages to a List from the Web Interface 11.1 Composing the Message 11.1.1 Using the HTML Editor 11.2 Creating Customized HTML Newsletters 11.2.1 Selecting a Template 11.2.2 Defining the Content 11.2.3 Fine Tuning the Newsletter 11.2.4 Testing and Sending the Newsletter Section 12 Starting a Mailing List Using Email 12.1 Avoiding Duplication 12.2 Skills Needed to Start and Maintain a LISTSERV Mailing List 12.3 Creating a Mailing List Manually 12.3.1 Naming Conventions 12.3.1.1 The "-L" Convention 12.3.1.2 Reserved Names 12.3.1.3 Reserved Characters 12.3.1.4 Maximum Length of the List Name 12.3.1.5 Making the List Name User-Friendly 12.4 List Header Keywords 12.5 Sending Commands to LISTSERV 12.6 Defining Personal Passwords 12.7 Retrieving the List Configuration 12.7.1 Who can edit the list configuration? 12.7.2 Retrieving the List Configuration by Email 12.8 Editing the List Header 12.9 Defining List Owners 12.10 Storing the List on the Host Machine 12.11 Fixing Mistakes 12.12 Security Options 12.12.1 The VALIDATE= Keyword 12.12.2 Controlling Subscription Requests 12.12.3 Controlling the Service Area of the List 12.12.4 Controlling Who Reviews the List of Subscribers 12.12.5 Controlling Access to the Notebook Files 12.12.6 Controlling Who Can Post Mail to a List 12.12.7 The "OK" Confirmation Mechanism 12.12.8 Explicitly Cancelling "OK" Cookies 12.12.9 Restricting Subscriber Privileges 12.12.10 Restricting the Number of Postings Per User Per Day 12.13 Setting Up Lists for Specific Purposes 12.13.1 Public Discussion Lists 12.13.2 Private Discussion Lists 12.13.3 Edited Lists 12.13.4 Moderated Lists 12.13.5 Semi-Moderated Lists 12.13.6 Self-Moderated Lists 12.13.7 Private Edited/Moderated Lists 12.13.8 Auto-Responders 12.13.9 Announce-Only Lists 12.13.10 Restricted Subscription Lists with Automatically-Generated Questionnaire 12.13.11 Peered Lists 12.13.11.1 Linking Two or More LISTSERV Mailing Lists 12.13.11.2 Moving Users From One (Peer) Server to Another 12.13.11.3 Special Commands For Peered Lists Only 12.13.12 Super-Lists and Sub-Lists 12.13.13 Cloning Lists 12.14 List Passwords are now Obsolete 12.15 Allowing/Blocking MIME Attachments 12.16 Content Filtering 12.17 DomainKeys Message Signing Section 13 Managing Subscriptions through Email 13.1 Adding and Deleting Subscribers to/from a List 13.1.1 Adding Users Whose Address and Read Name Exceed 80 Characters 13.1.2 X.400 and X.500 Addressing – Special Problems 13.1.3 Continuation Card Syntax 13.2 Finding Users Who Do Not Appear in the List 13.3 Converting Existing Lists from Other Systems to LISTSERV 13.3.1 Converting Mailing Lists 13.3.2 Converting Message Archives 13.4 Adding Subscribers to Lists in Bulk 13.5 Deleting Subscribers from Lists in Bulk 13.6 Using the QUIET Option with Commands 13.7 Dealing with Bounced Mail 13.7.1 What is a bounce, and what can typically cause one? 13.7.2 The Owner-Listname Address 13.7.3 What to do about several types of bounces 13.7.4 Redistribution and Forwarding 13.7.5 "Sender:", "From:", or "Reply-To:" Fields in Body Causes Bounce 13.7.6 LMail Error Codes 13.8 Delivery Error Handling Features 13.8.1 Auto-Delete Considerations for Holidays 13.9 Address Probing 13.9.1 Active Address Probing 13.9.2 Passive Address Probing 13.10 Subscription Confirmation 13.11 Subscription Renewal 13.12 Using the SERVE Command When a User is "Served Out" Section 14 Setting Subscription Options for Subscribers Using Email 14.1 Reviewing Current Subscription Options with QUERY 14.2 Setting Personal Subscription Options for Subscribers 14.3 Subscription Options 14.3.1 Mail/NOMail 14.3.2 DIGest/NODIGest 14.3.3 MIME/NOMIME 14.3.4 INDex/NOINDex 14.3.5 ACK/NOACK/MSGack 14.3.6 Options for Mail Headers of Incoming Postings 14.3.7 Putting the List Name into the Subject: Field 14.3.8 CONCEAL/NOCONCEAL 14.3.9 REPro/NOREPro 14.3.10 TOPICS 14.3.11 POST/NOPOST 14.3.12 EDITOR/NOEDITOR 14.3.13 REVIEW/NOREVIEW 14.3.14 RENEW/NORENEW 14.4 Setting Original Default Options with the Default-Options= Keyword 14.5 Setting the Misc-Options= Keyword 14.5.1 DISCARD_HTML 14.5.2 IETFHDR_SUBJECT_TAG 14.5.3 IGNORE_EMAIL_CASE | RESPECT_EMAIL_CASE 14.5.4 KEEP_DKIM_SIGNATURE 14.5.5 KEEP_EXCHANGE_DATA 14.5.6 NO_DKIM_SIGNATURE 14.5.7 NO_RFC2369 14.5.8 NO_SPAM_CHECK 14.5.9 RESPECT_EMAIL_CASE 14.5.10 SUBJECTHDR_SEQUENCE 14.5.11 SUPPRESS_APPROVED_BY Section 15 Moderating and Editing Lists through Email 15.1 List Charters, Welcome Files, and Administrative Updates 15.2 The Role of the List Owner as Moderator 15.3 The Role of the List Owner as Editor 15.4 Setting Up an Edited List 15.5 Submitting Subscriber Contributions to an Edited List 15.6 Message Approval with Send= Editor,Hold 15.7 Using List Topics 15.8 The <listname> WELCOME and <listname> FAREWELL Files 15.8.1 Creating and Storing the listname WELCOME and FAREWELL Files 15.8.2 Using the listname WELCOME File as a Moderation Tool 15.8.3 Using the listname FAREWELL File as a Feedback Tool 15.8.4 The Alternative to Using WELCOME and FAREWELL Files 15.9 Social Conventions (“Netiquette”) 15.9.1 Recognizing and Accepting Cultural and Linguistic Differences 15.9.2 Private Mail Should Dictate Private Responses 15.9.3 Flaming is (Usually) Inappropriate 15.9.4 Foul Language 15.9.5 Unsolicited Advertising and Chain Letters 15.9.6 Other Disruptive or Abusive Behavior 15.10 Spamming: “Don't Feed the Trolls” 15.11 Considerations for Appropriate Use Policies Section 16 Managing Archives using Email 16.1 List Archives 16.1.1 Setting Up Archive Notebooks 16.1.2 Indexing Available Archive Notebooks 16.1.3 Deleting Existing Archive Notebooks by Email 16.2 File Archives 16.2.1 What is the File Archive? 16.2.2 Starting a File Archive for your List 16.2.2.1 On VM Systems ONLY 16.2.2.2 On Workstation and PC Systems 16.2.3 Filelist Maintenance (VM Systems Only) 16.2.3.1 Retrieving the Filelist 16.2.3.2 Adding File Descriptors to the Filelist 16.2.3.3 File Access Codes (FAC) for User Access 16.2.3.4 Deleting File Descriptors from the Filelist 16.2.3.5 Storing the Filelist 16.2.4 The listname.CATALOG System on non-VM Systems 16.2.4.1 Updating the Sub-Catalog 16.2.4.2 Indexing the Sub-Catalog 16.2.5 Storing Files on the Host Machine 16.2.6 Deleting Files from the Host Machine 16.2.7 Automatic File Distribution (AFD) and File Update Information (FUI) 16.2.8 File "Packages" 16.2.9 Where to Find More information on File Archives Section 17 Using Email to Post a Message Section 18 Working with Mail and Web Templates Using Email 18.1 Using LISTSERV Templates 18.2 Types of Templates 18.2.1 Mail Templates 18.2.1.1 Mail Templates 18.2.1.2 Message Templates 18.2.1.3 Message Fragments 18.2.2 Web Templates 18.3 The Default Charset for Mail Templates 18.4 Naming Conventions for Message Templates and Fragments 18.5 Accessing the Default Template Files 18.5.1 Requesting a Copy 18.6 Mail Template Format and Embedded Formatting Commands 18.6.1 Mail Template Format 18.6.2 Common Variable Substitutions 18.6.3 Template Commands 18.6.4 Conditional Processing 18.6.5 The .QUIF Command 18.6.6 Using 8-Bit Characters in Templates 18.7 Editing List-Level Default Templates 18.7.1 The INFO Template Form 18.7.2 DEFAULT MAILTPL Templates 18.7.3 Tips for Using Templates 18.8 Using the DAYSEQ(n) Function 18.8.1 Rotating Bottom Banner 18.8.2 Rotating FAQ via the PROBE1 Template and "Renewal= xx-Daily" 18.8.3 Calculating the Value for DAYSEQ() 18.9 Storing the <listname>.MAILTPL File on the Host Machine 18.10 DIGEST-H and INDEX-H Template Files 18.11 WWW Interface Templates and Template Forms 18.11.1 Web Forms (Static) Contained in DEFAULT MAILTPL 18.11.2 The WWW_ARCHIVE.MAILTPL File 18.11.3 The DEFAULT.WWWPTL File (Dynamic Templates) 18.11.4 The SITE.WWWTPL File 18.11.5 National Language Template Files (idiom.mailtpl) 18.11.6 Template Precedence 18.12 Serving Up Custom Web Pages for your List 18.12.1 A Practical Example: ADMIN_POST 18.13 Using a Conditional Expression Evaluator Section 19 Solving Problems 19.1 Helping Subscribers Figure Out the Answers 19.2 Loop-Checking Can Cause Occasional Problems with Quoted Replies 19.3 User Can't Unsubscribe and/or Change Personal Options 19.4 Firewalls 19.5 LISTSERV Won’t Store Your List 19.6 If I can't find the answer, where do I turn? Section 20 Advertising Your Public Mailing Lists 20.1 List of Lists Maintained by LISTSERV 20.2 Adding HTML to a List Header for the CataList 20.2.1 Update latency 20.2.2 Inserting a Pointer to Another List 20.2.3 Restrictions on the Placement of Equal Signs 20.3 Defining Search Categories in a List Header for the CataList 20.3.1 Examples of Category Settings 20.4 Implementing the INFO <listname> Command 20.5 The Global List Exchange (GLX) 20.6 How NOT to Advertise a Mailing List Appendix A: LISTSERV Commands General Commands List Subscription Commands Other list-related commands Informational commands Commands Related to File Server and Web Functions Other Advanced Commands List Owner and File Owner Commands File Management Commands (for file owners only) List Management Functions LISTSERV Maintainer Commands Commands for LISTSERV on VM Servers Only Sending commands to LISTSERV Defining Personal Passwords Appendix B: Sample Boilerplate Files Subscription Requests Sent to the List Sending Other Commands to the List or to the *-REQUEST Address for the List Unsubscribed User Still Getting Mail Quoted Replies Include Message Headers Causing them to Bounce Delivery Error with Unknown User Account Setting a User to DIGEST because of Bouncing Mail A Sample "Your List has been Created" Boilerplate Appendix C: Country Codes
