Moderators Guide to Mailing List Management
Introduction
As you know, there are some administrative duties associated with moderating a list. We recommend that moderators be involved with these so that they can keep track of who is using their list and how much it is being used.
As a moderator you may receive several types of list-related messages, some of which require follow up. The CGNET postmaster is here to help you in this process. If you need an explanation of a message, or if any message doesn't seem right, just forward a copy of it to postmaster, and we'll be glad to help.
Below is a short reference document about the procedures you might want to know and the different types of messages you might receive. There are five topics covered in this document:
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Subscribing a new member to a list - Removing a member from a list
- Getting a list of subscribers to a list
- Incorrect addresses on a list
- Mistaken use of "reply" with a list
Once the list is established, you will be able to take care of the list and message failures. Of course the postmaster is always here to help and answer any questions you have.
Subscriptions
These messages relate to subscribing new members to your list. You may allow others to subscribe themselves, or as moderator you may subscribe them. If you add someone, it is important to carefully check the subscriber's email address. If you subscribe an incorrect address, you won't know about it until the next message goes to the list, which could be much later.
To subscribe someone to your list, send a message to listserv@cgnet.com with a line of text of the form "subscribe listname user@host". For example, to subscribe B.Green@cgnet.com to a list called Music, you should send a message to listserv@cgnet.com with the text:
subscribe Music B.Green@cgnet.com
When you subscribe an address you will get a one-time acknowledgment that the address was added. In the above example, as the list moderator you will receive the following acknowledgment:
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 12:57:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: "PMDF Mailserv V4.3"
The address: B.GREEN@CGNET.COM has been added to the MUSIC mailing list by Postmaster
Removals
To remove someone from your list, send a message to listserv@cgnet.com with a line of text of the form "unsubscribe listname user@host". For example, to remove B.Green@cgnet.com from a list called Music, you should send a message to listserv@cgnet.com with the text:
unsubscribe Music B.Green@cgnet.com
As the list moderator you will receive an acknowledgment, in a format similar to the subscription acknowledgement above:
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 12:57:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: "PMDF Mailserv V4.3"
Determining Who Is Subscribed
You can get the list of subscribers to your list at any time by sending a message to listserv@cgnet.com with the line of text "send/list listname." For example, to get the subscribers to the list called "Music", send a message to listserv@cgnet.com with the text
send/list Music
The resulting message might look like the following:
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 12:57:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: "PMDF Mailserv V4.3"
Incorrect Addresses
Whenever a message is sent to a list, it is duplicated and transmitted to every address on the list. If any transmission fails, a failure message is generated and sent to you the list administrator. For example:
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 13:00:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: PMDF Mail Server
This generally indicates that an incorrect address has been subscribed to the list. Perhaps the address was spelled incorrectly, or the subscriber's address has changed. In this case, you follow the removal procedure above to correct the problem.
The problem also could be that the subscriber has gone on vacation and shut down his or her mailbox temporarily. Or there might have been a fault in their system that pvented the delivery of the message. In this case, you can wait for the next message to be sent to the list, and see if the delivery to that user fails again.
But if every message sent to the list results in a failure message for one address, it's most likely that the address is no longer correct. The user has probably moved to another job, or his or her mailbox was moved to another computer, so the old mailbox simply doesn't exist any more.
In this case, as moderator you need to remove the user's address from the list using the exact address that they were subscribed with. If you know a new address you might re-subscribe the person using their new and corrected address.
If you're not sure about whether an address is correct, you can send a test message to it, saying that list mail has been returned and for a reply. You'll either get a response or another failure message.
Finally, if unsubscribing the incorrect address doesn't seem to work, send a message to postmaster@cgnet.com requesting help, and we can fix the problem for you.
Mistaken Use of Reply
Sometimes new subscribers will think that by hitting reply they are sending their message to the list. However, instead of going to the list the message is sent to the list moderator. As moderator, you must decide what to do with the message.
The message looks very much like a standard message being sent to the list. However, it differs in its "to" address, which shows "listname- postmaster" instead of simply the list name. For example, this message shows the address line as "To: music-postmaster" instead of the listserver address "To: MUSIC"
REPLY FROM: "Duffield, Julie"
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 1994 08:59:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Duffield, Julie"
In this case we suggest one of three types of follow-up: (1) You can forward the message to the list to distribute it on behalf of the user. (2) You may decide the message is inappropriate for the list, and simply delete it. (3) Or you could reply to the message, instructing the sender to resend the message directly to the list. Here's an example of the text of such a message:
Greetings, Your message below was received by the list moderator, rather than by the list. This is because you used the reply command instead of typing in the listserver address (Music) or choosing it from the SMTP directory. Please re-send your message to the list by addressing it to Music. Thanks and regards, your list moderator
It may seem inconvenient for users to have to re-enter the list address. However, it is essential to pvent messages from being repeatedly sent to a list. Many users' mail packages send "out of the office" notices, or delivery confirmation notices, as automatic replies to received messages. To pvent these from going to the whole list, they are sent only to the moderator to determine if they are OK. (In fact, if they were sent to the whole list, they might result in another automatic notice, which would go to the list again, in a loop that would send everyone a lot of useless e-mail!)
For more information about CGNET, please contact info@cgnet.com.