LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION Department of Client Services Information Technology Systems Division

Transcription

1 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin LIST INSTRUCTIONS Yur List s Admin Webpage...2 Fr assistance cntact the Technlgy Assistance Center: tac@uncw.edu Updated 5/06 Helping Peple Subscribe Unsubscribe Change User s Address Use Tw Addresses Use Digest Mde Bunced Mail...5 Mderating Subscribers...5 Handling Mderated Lists...6 Cnfiguring Yur List Editing the Intr Descriptin Setting the List Passwrd Listname in Subject Line Hw Replies are Addressed Archiving Messages

2 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION 2 Instructins fr -List Managers: Yur List Administratin Web Page T see and cntrl yur list and its subscribers, g t its administratin Web page: lists.uncw.edu/mailman/admin/listname/ Replace listname with the name f the list in small letters. Fr example, the FilmAlert list is here: lists.uncw.edu/mailman/admin/filmalert The Web page requires yu t type the list's passwrd, which yu shuld knw. (Cntact mailman-wner@lists.uncw.edu if yu dn't.) When yu click the Let Me In buttn, yu will see the General Optins page f yur list's administratin web pages. These pages shw (and let yu change) all the cnfiguratin settings fr yur list, including the settings fr individual subscribers. Dn't change settings with which yu are nt familiar. D use the pages t add and delete subscribers, update subscribers' settings, and maintain the welcme and infrmatin messages fr yur list. Mailman has thirteen cnfiguratin categries and a web page fr each. Luckily, yu nly need t use a few f these: Crucial fr day-t-day list peratin Membership Management: adding/deleting subscribers, their addresses and their settings General Optins: welcme message, inf message, wh replies g t, and ther settings Optinal (usually yu can just stick with the default settings) Privacy Optins: wh can pst, whse pstings are held fr manager apprval, whether the list appears n Mailman's list pages, wh can see the subscribers list, anti-spam measures. If yu wuld like t stp the SPAM, please fllw these instructins: Lgin t the lists administrative interface. [Sender filters]: Change ne r bth f these ptins: Actin t take fr pstings frm nn-members fr which n explicit actin is defined: Hld, Reject, r Discard ( What t d with the messages, administratrs preference. ) Hld: Hld the message in a queue until the administratr lgins in and manually deals with it. Reject: Reject the message and send ntice t the sender f a message bunce. Discard: Delete the mail, it ges n further, n ne is ntified. Listserv Administratin Last Mdified: 5/06 Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin, UNCW

3 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION 3 If Discarded: Shuld messages frm nn-members, which are autmatically discarded, be frwarded t the list mderatr?: Yes, N ( Shuld the mderatr/administratr get the message that was psted t the list after it has been Discarded? ) Yes: Any message frm a nn-member which is discarded, will be frwarded t the administratr s UNCW accunt. This shuld remedy the unslicited mail prblem ging t the mailing lists members. Nn-digest Optins: settings fr messages when they are sent ne at a time. Digest Optins: settings fr messages cllected int digests. Passwrds: changing the passwrds fr list managers and mderatrs, nt subscribers. Language Optins: selecting languages the list supprts. Bunce Optins: what Mailman des with bunced messages frm defunct addresses. Archiving Optins: whether and hw the list is archived, and wh can see the archives (subscribers, r everyne). Cntent Filtering: whether and hw the list is archived, and wh can see the archives (nly subscribers r everyne in the universe). Mail <-> News gateways: lists that als are readable as newsgrups, which we dn't d). Aut-respnder: we can use Mailman t set up "mailbts" that respnd autmatically with a standard message. In the descriptins that fllw, replace <LISTNAME> with the name f yur mailing list (nt including the "@lists.uncw.edu" part). Fr example, if yu manage the FilmAlert@lists.uncw.edu list, replace <LISTNAME> with FilmAlert. Replace <PASSWORD> with the passwrd fr yur mailing list. Helping Peple Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Change Their Address, r Use Digest Mde T help peple get n and ff yur list, yu use the administratin Web pages fr yur list. First, read hw t display yur list's administratin Web pages (earlier n this page), then read n t find ut hw t add smene, delete smene, change their address, deal with peple wh have tw addresses, and use digest mde. Seeing the Subscriber List T see the subscriber list, g t yur list's administratin Web page, next click the Membership Management link near the tp f the page, nw click the Membership List near the tp f the page. Yu see the Membership List page fr yur list. Scrll dwn t see yur subscribers listed in alphabetical rder. Nte: If yur list has mre than abut 30 subscribers, Mailman shws them t yu 30 at a Listserv Administratin Last Mdified: 5/06 Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin, UNCW

4 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION 4 time. Belw the first set f subscribers are links fr ther pages f subscribers. The links are called "frm xxx t yyy", shwing the range f addresses that are displayed n that page. Helping Peple Subscribe If smene needs help getting subscribed, g t yur list's administratin Web page, click the Membership Management link near the tp f the page, click the Mass Subscriptin link near the tp f the page, next type his/her address in the bx, and click Submit Yur Changes. Yu can type mre than ne address in the bx -- just type them ne per line. Be sure t keep the Send welcme messages t new subscribers ptin set t Yes, s each subscriber receives a welcme message, which cntains the persn's list passwrd. Hint: If yu dn't want the subscriber t receive a welcme message, that is, if yu are fixing sme kind f subscriptin errr and yu dn't want t alarm the subscriber, set the Send welcme messages t new subscribers ptin t N befre yu click the Submit Yur Changes buttn. Nte: Fr mst lists, subscriber cnfirmatin is required. (Take a lk at the sectin n list cnfiguratin, belw, fr hw t check r change this setting fr yur list.) That is, after subscribing, the wuld-be subscriber gets a cnfirmatin message, asking that the persn reply t cnfirm that s/he really wants t be n the list. The reasn fr requiring cnfirmatin is that withut it, n-gdniks can harass inncent peple by subscribing them t hundreds f mailing lists, with the result that the inncent persn's mail bx fills with tens f thusands f unwanted messages. Helping Peple Unsubscribe If smene needs help getting ff yur list, g t the administratin Web pages fr yur list, click the Membership List link, scrll dwn the list f subscribers until yu find the subscriber, and click the check bx in the unsub clumn (the leftmst check bx). Then click the Submit Yur Changes buttn at the bttm f the page. Yu can remve several peple at nce by clicking their unsub check bxes befre clicking Submit Yur Changes. Helping Peple Change Their Address There's n ne-step way t change an address. As manager, yu have tw ptins: 1. Yu may unsubscribe the ld address and then subscribe the new address-- thrugh the Membership List page, as described abve. Befre yu unsubscribe the persn, make a nte f their existing hide setting (dn't display my address in the subscriber list), nmail setting (dn't send mail t this address), and digest setting (send daily digests instead f individual messages). Set these settings the same way fr the address yu add. Listserv Administratin Last Mdified: 5/06 Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin, UNCW

5 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION 5 2. Yu may als change the address thrugh the Membership List page by clicking n the link that is the subscriber's address and ging t his/her cnfiguratin page. As manager, yu may change any f the subscriber's list ptins, but several f them require the subscriber's cnfirmatin. Thus, if yu change his/her address, a message will be sent t the subscriber asking him/her t cnfirm the change via return . This, f curse, has the ptential fr cnfusin. Helping Peple Wh Have Tw Addresses Smetimes a subscriber needs t be able t send mail frm anther machine r the subscriber's address can appear in multiple frmats. Subscribe the persn with bth addresses, and set ne nt t receive mail, by checking the nmail check bx fr that address. Helping Peple Switch t Digest Mde Fr lists that generate lts f messages each day, peple may prefer t receive all the messages fr the day in ne big message, r "digest," rather than individually. T switch t digest mde, check the digest check bx fr the address. Mderating Subscribers Mderating Subscribers When subscribers are mderated, any message they pst is first sent t yu (r t thers yu designate as mderatrs) fr yur apprval. Use this setting fr a list that is fr annuncements nly (i.e., yu dn't want subscribers t be able t pst) r t silence a trublesme subscriber. On the administratin Web page fr the list, click the Membership Management link, click the Membership List link t view yur list membership. Find the subscriber t be mderated and check the bx in the md clumn. If yu wish t mderate everyne n the list, scrll t the bttm f the page and lk fr the Set everyne's mderatin bit, including thse members nt currently visible ptin. Clicking ON will make everyne "mderated." Then click the Set buttn. Finally, click the Submit Yur Changes buttn at the bttm f the page. Unmderating A Subscriber Clear the check bx in the md clumn. Click Submit Yur Changes. Listserv Administratin Last Mdified: 5/06 Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin, UNCW

6 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION 6 Handling Mderated Lists If yu are the mderatr f a list, yu decide which messages get psted t the list and which get tssed int the bit bucket. When smene tries t pst a message t the list (that is, they send the message t the list's address), yu get a ntificatin message. The message cntains a link t the Web page that yu use t apprve r reject message. Fllw the instructins n the Web page t apprve f the message (s it is psted) r reject it (s it's nt). If yu reject a message, Mailman autmatically sends a message back t the persn wh tried t pst the message, and yu can edit the text f that message n the Web page, t. Yu may handle the rejectin/apprval f a message via and nt the Web page, but Mailman's implementatin f this is cnfusing. The web page is the preferred methd t mderate yur mailing list. At the bttm f the ntificatin message r attached t it will be these directins (here, the list is called listname): Subject: cnfirm 70a554ab20cdacd07870ac1f169910d0fa7c635 Sender: listname-request@lists.uncw.edu Frm: listname-request@lists.uncw.edu If yu reply t this message, keeping the Subject: header intact, Mailman will discard the held message. D this if the message is spam. In many clients this will nt wrk if yu use reply as instructed. Instead, yu must frward the message t listname-request@lists.uncw.edu and cpy-n-paste the cnfirm cde (the lng string f letters/numbers) int the Subject line. Or yu culd just create a new message fr listname-request@lists.uncw.edu and cpy-npaste the cnfirm cde int its Subject. Cnfiguring Yur List Mailman maintains a bunch f settings fr yur list. These settings cntrl wh can pst messages, wh can subscribe, whether peple have t send an extra cnfirmatin message when they subscribe, and a lt f ther things. Mailman als stres an inf message, the welcme message (which each new subscriber receives), the list f subscribers, and a few ther files. Almst all the settings are n the administratin Web pages fr the list. Here are instructins fr setting a few f yur list's cnfiguratin settings. If yu dn't understand what a setting des, it's prbably best nt t mess with it. Please cntact the Technlgy Assistance Center fr assistance. Editing the Intrductry Descriptin and Welcme Message The intrductry descriptin is the text that appears n the list's hme page, which can be fund at: Listserv Administratin Last Mdified: 5/06 Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin, UNCW

7 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION 7 lists.uncw.edu/mailman/listinf/listname/ The welcme message is the message that peple receive via when they subscribe. Yu can edit this text by writing it in a text editr r wrd prcessr and cutting-and-pasting the text int the administratin web page. On the administratin Web page, click the General Optins link near the tp and scrll dwn t the An intrductry descriptin bx. Paste the inf message in this bx. Then scrll dwn t the List-specific text prepended t new-subscriber welcme bx and paste the new welcme-message text. The welcme message cmes with sme standard list inf. Whatever yu put in this bx will be added t the start f (i.e., "prepended t") the message. Click the Submit Yur Changes buttn at the bttm f the page. Setting the One-Line Descriptin f Yur List On the General Optins page fr the list, the "terse phrase identifying this list" bx cntains the ne-line descriptin f the list. Edit its cntents and click the Submit Yur Changes buttn at the bttm f the page. Setting the List Passwrd Near the tp f the page click the Passwrds link t pen the Change list wnership passwrds page. This page presents tw passwrds, administratr and mderatr. The mderatr passwrd is a passwrd that nly allws apprving r messages messages held fr mderatin. The administratr passwrd allws management f all mailing list ptins. Including the Listname in the Subject Line In the middle f the General Optins page, put yur list name in the bx that says Prefix fr Subject Line f List Pstings. Put brackets arund yur list name s it stands ut frm a message subject. Fr example: [FilmAlert] Nw, every message distributed thrugh yur list will have this in their Subject lines. Fr example: Subject: [FilmAlert] Cl Film Just Opened in Wilmingtn Click Submit Yur Changes at the bttm f the page. Cntrlling Hw Replies Are Addressed When respnding t a list message, subscribers can reply by default t either the whle list r just t the persn whse pst they're answering. Yu can set the default t be whatever Listserv Administratin Last Mdified: 5/06 Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin, UNCW

8 LISTSERV ADMINISTRATION 8 is mst apprpriate fr yur list, but we strngly recmmend nt having it default t the list. Why? Because a setting like that ften results in subscribers sending things t the list that they d nt intend. On the General Optins page g t the bx that says Where are replies t list messages directed? Chse pster (i.e., the persn wh riginally sent it in), this list, r explicit address. Click Submit Yur Changes at the bttm f the page. Archiving Messages At the tp f the General Optins page, click n the Archiving Optins link. Chse the settings yu prefer (if yu chse t archive it is recmmended that yu select the private ptin, meaning that nly subscribers t yur list may view the archives). The list administratr is respnsible fr ensuring the Archived cntent is nt cnfidential r sensitive if they enable the Archive functins. Please cntact the Technlgy Assistance Center if yu need help restricting r deleting archived cntent. Click Submit Yur Changes at the bttm. Listserv Administratin Last Mdified: 5/06 Department f Client Services Infrmatin Technlgy Systems Divisin, UNCW