Topics

• I. Introduction
• II. Subscribing to a list
• III. Accessing a list in digest format
• IV. Sending a message to a list
• V. Replying to a Listserv message
• VI. Finding the owner & subscribers
• VII. Suspending Listserv mail
• VIII. Unsubscribing from a list
• IX. Viewing postings on the web
• X. Troubleshooting

I. Introduction

A Listserv discussion group is an e-mail distribution list through which people can post and respond to messages pertaining to a particular topic.

Note: You can access your Temple e-mail account on the web at: http://tumail.temple.edu

Listserv discussion groups are also referred to as "distribution lists" or just "lists." Each Listserv list resides on a computer that receives and distributes the messages to all the subscribers. To subscribe to a list, you must know the name of the computer that hosts the list. Temple lists reside on listserv.temple.edu.

II. Subscribing to a list

To find out what people are discussing on a particular list, you must subscribe to the list. Upon subscribing, you will receive e-mail confirming that your subscription was accepted. Then, whenever anyone sends an e-mail message to that list, you and all the other subscribers will receive a copy. Be aware that some lists, such as ones pertaining to certain courses, are private so not everyone can subscribe.

Note: Be careful in choosing Listserv lists. Some can be very prolific and fill-up your account and/or hard disk with mail. Make sure to regularly delete unneeded messages. As an alternative, you can also subscribe to a list in digest format as described in section III.

Subscribing to a list is a two step process.

Step 1 - send your request to subscribe:

To subscribe to a list, send an e-mail message to: listserv@listserv.temple.edu

Leave the subject blank and type the following text as the message:

sub listname first-name last-name

For example, if your name is Joe Smith and you want to subscribe to a list hosted at Temple called history101, type:

sub history101 Joe Smith

and send the message.

Step 2 - confirm your subscription request:

Once you have sent your request to subscribe, Listserv will send a reply to your e-mail account. You will then have to reply to the message. To do so, log in to your e-mail account and open the reply sent to you from L-Soft list server. Reply to this message by sending an e-mail message with the word ok as the only text in your message.

After you reply, you will receive one or two messages from the Listserv. The first message will inform you that your request has been forwarded to the list owner or person maintaining the list; the second message will confirm your subscription.

III. Accessing a list in digest format

As an alternative to receiving each posting as a separate mail message, you can access many lists in digest format. This means that you will receive one e-mail message per day containing all the previous day's postings. You may want to request the digest format to prevent your mail inbox from becoming unmanageable due to a large number of postings.

To access a list in digest format, first subscribe to the list. Then send an e-mail message to: listserv@listserv.temple.edu

Leave the subject blank and type the following text as the message:

set listname digest

A confirmation e-mail message will be sent to you indicating that your subscription options were updated for the digest.

IV. Sending a message to a list

Participating in a list is simply a matter of sending an e-mail message to the name of the list followed by the Internet address of the computer hosting the list. Your message will then be forwarded to all subscribers. For example, to send a message to the history101 list, you would address the message to: history101@listserv.temple.edu

A note on Internet etiquette:

Messages that you send to a list are read by many people. As a courtesy to others, be mindful of the following considerations:

• Do not abuse or insult anyone, or knowingly make false statements.
• Only send messages you want others to read.
• Only send a message if it pertains to a listŐs topic.
• Include a subject in each message you send, so readers can readily determine its topic.

V. Replying to a Listserv message

In addition to posting a new message to a list, you can reply to a message someone else posted. Usually, the reply will be sent to all members of the list. Sometimes, however, the reply will be sent by default only to the original sender of the message. To see where the reply is going, make sure to look at the To: field of the header before you send the message.

VI. Finding the owner & subscribers

Every list is maintained by one or more list owners. If you have a problem with a list, send a private e-mail message to the owner discussing your concerns. To obtain the name and e-mail address of a list's owner, send an e-mail message to: listserv@listserv.temple.edu 

Leave the subject blank and type the following information as the message:

review listname

where listname is the name of the list. You will receive an e-mail message with the ownership information displayed at the top.

Depending on the list, you may also see the names and e-mail addresses of the subscribers included in the message. If you do not want your name to be visible in this list, send an e-mail message to: listserv@listserv.temple.edu 

Leave the subject blank and type the following information as the message:

set listname conceal

where listname is the name of the list. You will then receive a mail message stating that your current subscription options were updated.

VII. Suspending Listserv mail

If you are planning on being away and want to stop receiving Listserv messages, send an e-mail message to: listserv@listserv.temple.edu

Leave the subject blank and type the following information as the message:

set listname nomail

For example, to temporarily stop receiving messages from the history101 discussion list, type:

set history101 nomail

You will receive a mail message stating that your current subscription options were updated.

To resume receiving messages when you return, send a message to: listserv@listserv.temple.edu

Leave the subject blank and type the following information as the message:

set listname mail

VIII. Unsubscribing from a list

To unsubscribe from a list, send e-mail to: listserv@listserv.temple.edu

Leave the subject blank and type as the message:

signoff listname

For example, to sign off from the history101 discussion list, type:

signoff history101

You will receive a confirmation e-mail message indicating that you were removed from the list.

To unsubscribe from all lists, type:

signoff * (netwide

IX. Viewing postings on the web

To see a list of some of the lists hosted at Temple and view the postings in a list:

1. Go to: http://listserv.temple.edu

2. Click on LIST WEB SITES.

3. Click on the name of a list.

4. Click on one of the months that are listed. The headers for that month's postings will then appear.

5. Click on a header to read the associated posting.

Note: You may need to subscribe to a list and set up a web Listserv password to browse the postings.

If a list hosted at Temple does not appear on the website, you may still be able to access the archives. To try, include the list name in the web address, in lowercase letters, followed by .html in the web address, as in this example using the list named history 101: http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/history101.html

For more information on using the Listserv web site, refer to Using the web to participate in Listserv discussion groups.

X. Troubleshooting

If you have problems using Listserv, contact the Computer Services Help Desk:

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Temple University.
Revised 01/06