ICG Link Customer Support - ListServ Mailing Lists

[ Ask for Help ] [ Knowledge Base ]

ListServ Mailing Lists

We offer a mass mailing list service that will make it easy for you to send mail to a large number of your own customers at the same time. You can not send unsolicited mail (spam) at the risk of discontinuation of service. We have a strict anti-spam policy that must be respected, but you are welcome to send mailings to those people who have specifically asked for information from you.

One advantage of a ListServ list is that this kind of list is self managing. People can sign up and remove themselves without you being involved. When you sign up for this service, a page can be set up on your site where people can subscribe and unsubscribe from your ListServ list. ListServ lists are particularly good for large lists since you send a single message to the list and the mail server sends it out to everyone on the list. This avoids taxing your system resources. Instead it uses our resources to deliver the message.

To use the ListServ, you must first sign up for one. Once you have signed up for a list, you can create it in Mail Admin.

Once you have created your list, you can add people, remove people or send mail to the list. If you send an e-mail message to the list, all the people on the list will get it.

You should always use moderated lists which means that a moderator must approve any messages sent to the list. To send mail to a moderated list, send mail to listname@yourdomain.com. For example if FOO.COM had a list called doughnuts, you would send mail to doughnuts@foo.com. The moderator will then receive a confirmation that this message should go to the list. When you OK it, everyone on the list will get the message. You can choose to ban all mail to the list except mail from moderators if you wish. This can be helpful.

To add an e-mail address, send mail to listname-subscribe@yourdomain.com. If desired, a confirmation request message will be sent to the name in the return address. The address will be added to the list when the system receives confirmation. Alternatively, administrators can add addresses using Mail admin.

To remove an e-mail address, send mail to listname-unsubscribe@yourdomain.com. If desired, a confirmation request message will be sent to the name in the return address. The address will be removed from the list when the system receives confirmation. Alternatively, administrators can remove addresses using Mail admin.

The ListServ system cleans itself of bad e-mail addresses. If a message can't be sent for 12 days, it saves it and checks the address for another 12 days. If unsuccessful, it deletes the bad address automatically.

LISTSERV SUBSCRIPTIONS USING FORM.PL

There are two things necessary to make the form script subscribe users to a ListServ mailing list. First you must sign up for a ListServ list. Then you must build a form and add the appropriate code to your form. See the form script instructions for details.

CREATING THE LIST

When setting up a list, the following options are available. Recommended settings are noted with an asterisk (*).

A)	* Message moderation.	Messageposting is not moderated.
Unmoderated (open) lists are not recommended. This means anyone on the list can send a message to the list and nobody has to approve (moderate) the message before it goes directly to the list.
B)	Archived	* Not archived
An archive is a stored copy of all messages sent to the list. Messages in the archive can be retreived either from a web interface (see H below) or through email requests from moderators or anyone (see C & F below).
C)	Block archive. Only moderators are allowed to access the archive.	* Archive access is open to anyone or subscribers only, depending on the Guard setting.
This determines who can retrieve an archived message. Not Relevant if No Archive.
D)	Digest	* No digest. Do not set up the digest list.
A digest is a way to hold all messages to open lists for 24 hours and send them together. This won't work unless the list gets at least a message every day, since a message must go out before the system will evaluate whether the 24 hours has passed.
E)	Prefix. Set up the list so that the outgoing subject will be prefixed with the list name.	* No prefix.
This refers to the subject of the outgoing message.
F)	Guard archive. Archive access requests from unrecognised SENDERs will be rejected.	* Do not guard archive. Archive access request from any SENDERs will be serviced.
Not Relevant if No Archive. Gives added security if guarded.
G)	Subscriptions do not require confirmation.	* Subscription requires confirmation by reply to a message sent to the subscription address.
Normally a good idea since it prevents someone from being added to a list without their permission.
H)	Indexed for WWW archive access.	* The list is created without WWW archive index.
Not Relevant if No Archive. Gives access to archives through a web browser.
I)	* Unsubscribe does not require confirmation.	Unsubscribe requires confirmation by a reply to a message sent to the subscription address.
Normally not required. People who want to get off a list usually wish to do so with a minimum of fuss, However this option gives added security in that one person can't remove another without their permission.
J)	List subscribers. Remote administrators can request a subscriber list, and search the subscriber log.	* The subscriber list cannot be obtained.
You can use mail management for this and leave it unobtainable.
K)	* Allow remote administrators to edit files in text directory	* Text file editing is not allowed
These are the files that allow you to change the fixed text of each message and message function. See below for more information on these files.
L)	* Posts from addresses other than moderators are rejected. This is applicable to message moderated lists only.	Others not rejected. For moderated lists, all posts are forwarded to the moderators. The switch has effects only on message moderated lists.
Normally reject them since moderators are not interested in seeing messages they themselves didn't send to the list. This is also a security feature to keep moderators from making a mistake and sending another person's message to the list.
M)	Respond to adminstrative requests and allow archive retrieval by the public.	* Allow only digest creation, remote adminstration, and archive retrieval by remote administrators, (if the list is configured with this option).
Normally allowed. Provides ability to subscribe, unsubscribe, create digests, perform remote administration and retrieve archives.
N)	Request address is serviced.	* Do not process messages sent to the "request" address
You should turn this off unless it's needed. If checked, it will process commands sent in the subject to list-request@host.
O)	* Enables remote administration.	No remote administration.
Gives you the ability to change headers, footers, etc. A message sent to listname-edit@domainname will reply with options for editing the list features.
P)	Subscription moderation.	* Subscriptions are not moderation.
Moderators can control who subscribes.
Q)	Trailer.	* No trailer.
Message footer is attached to your outgoing messages.
R)	User posts only	* Do not restrict posts based on SENDER address
Never turn this on or you will create an open list.

EDITING THE LIST FEATURES

If you enable options K and O, you can edit various features of the list by sending mail to listname-edit.feature@domainname. Simply replace 'feature' with the word below to edit the feature described.

bottom - bottom of all responses. General command info.
digest - 'administrivia' section of digests.
faq - frequently asked questions specific to this list.
get_bad - in place of messages not found in the archive.
help - general help (between 'top' and 'bottom').
info - list info. First line should be meaningful on its own.
mod_help - specific help for list moderators.
mod_reject - to sender of rejected post.
mod_request - to message moderators together with post.
mod_sub - to subscriber after moderator confirmed subscribe.
mod_sub_confirm - to subscription mod to request subscribe confirm.
mod_timeout - to sender of timed-out post.
mod_unsub_confirm - to remote admin to request unsubscribe confirm.
sub_bad - to subscriber if confirm was bad.
sub_confirm - to subscriber to request subscribe confirm.
sub_nop - to subscriber after re-subscription.
sub_ok - to subscriber after successful subscription.
top - top of all responses.
trailer - added to all posts sent out from the list.
unsub_bad - to subscriber if unsubscribe confirm was bad.
unsub_confirm - to subscriber to request unsubscribe confirm.
unsub_nop - to non-subscriber after unsubscribe.
unsub_ok - to ex-subscriber after successful unsubscribe.