Instructions for Maintaining University Listservs

The University of Minnesota operates a list server for the benefit of the University of  Minnesota community. CFANS can assist you with moving an existing list or set up a new list for you on the University system. If you want help creating or moving a list, send an e-mail request to cfans.help@umn.edu.

You can manage your list via the web interface. Go to http://lists.umn.edu/.  The first time you log in you will need to set a password.

CFANS recommends these standard settings

• Reply option set to reply to sender, not to the entire list
• List set to be moderated, so that someone must approve all messages before they go to the entire list.
  
• Users are unable to subscribe themselves to a closed list.
• No archives

Management instructions

1. To manage a list, click List management tools for list owners

2. Select the list you want to manage

3.  Click on Subscriber Names to alphabetize the list according to the first letter of the e-mail address

4.  To add, delete and review members, click on View (or click on Subscriber Management from the pull-down menu under List Management on the top toolbar). You can search for subscribers to Examine or Delete Subscription and you can add New Subscribers in this format:  nancy@xyz.com (Nancy Travis).

There are two notification options when you add or delete a subscriber:

Send E-mail Notification or  Do Not Notify the User

5.  List Configuration

List configuration options include: 

Reply to:  Sender,Respect   The list will reply to the sender of the message not the entire list

Send=Editor

Summary of current "Send" setting:

• This is a moderated list.
• Posts from the editor will be sent directly to the list. Posts from all other senders will be forwarded to editor for approval.
• Editor= someone@umn.edu,someone2@umn.edu
• Postings submitted to moderation can be approved using the List  Moderation Web interface or the e-mail "OK" confirmation method.
• To cut down on spam being submitted to the moderators for approval, select "Confirm" and "Confirm applies to: Non-Members and Editors" below. This will force non-subscribers to confirm their postings.

6.  How to Change your Preferences

LISTSERV allows you to set personal preferences to control the appearance and default settings for the Web interface. Your personal preferences are saved with your email address and password and will be remembered the next time you log in, even if you log in on a different computer.

• To change your preferences, click on the tab of your choice.
• Make your selections by using the relevant pulldown menus or text boxes.
• Click "Submit" to save your changes.

There are three different modes:  Basic Mode, Advanced Mode and Tutorial Mode For more information about each preference and their settings, use the help icons.

7. You can add many names to your list via a text file, i.e., names.txt, by clicking on Subscriber Management and selecting the “Bulk Operations” tab.

The input file can contain a name and e-mail address per line in the file in this format:  henry@somewhere.com Henry Brown or Henry Brown <henry@somewhere.com>

Each list must conform to the University's Computer Usage Policy which states, in part:

• "Computers, networks and electronic information systems are essential resources for accomplishing the University of Minnesota's mission of instruction, research, and service outreach. The University grants members of the University community shared access to these resources in support of accomplishing the University's mission. These resources are a valuable community asset to be used and managed responsibly to ensure their integrity, security, and availability for appropriate educational and business activities. All authorized users of these resources are required to use them in an effective, efficient, and responsible manner."
• Each list should have at least one owner who is a member of the University community. If the primary owner is a student, the list should have at least one additional owner who is a faculty or staff member.
• The primary owner of a list is responsible for day-to-day monitoring and operation of the list. This includes, but is not limited to:
• deleting subscribers whose addresses are no longer valid;
• serving as the initial point of contact for subscribers with questions or problems; and,
• dealing with any social problems which may arise on the list.

• In most cases, a list owner should not add a subscriber to a list without the subscriber's prior knowledge and consent, and should comply immediately with a request from a subscriber to be removed from a list.

• Lists may not be used:
• for unsolicited mass mailings;
• to promote commercial products, services, or organizations; or
• for purposes which violate University policies, local ordinances, or state or federal laws.

• When a list is no longer needed, the list owner should notify the list server administrator and request that the list be deleted.

:slh & :mjn  5/13/08 (with contributions from other CFANS ITP’s_

G:\OIT\DEPT\Projects\Listserve Migration\Instructions\CFANS Lists.doc

Glossary

Archive
Copies of e-mail messages that have been sent to a list.  A Notebook option when setting up a University Listserv determines whether copies of list messages are kept in an archive, how often a new archive is started, who may view or search the list archives, and whether the list archives are accessible through the Listserv web interface.

Automated E-Mail List
The subscriber names on the list are continually updated with information from a central database.  For instance, changes to faculty and staff appointments made in PeopleSoft are reflected in the CFANS faculty and staff lists.  CFANS graduate and undergraduate students lists are populated by student registration records.

Closed List
A closed list does not accept any automatic subscription requests.  Some listservs allow e-mail messages to be sent to it with the word “Subscribe” in the body (You may have subscribed to a listserv this way.) and the person who sends the e-mail is automatically added to the list. Most of the CFANS lists and the University lists you set up will be closed which means you maintain the lists by manually adding and deleting subscribers.

Dashboard
The list management web interface for managing the lists on the University of  Minnesota listserv.

Editor
If an editor is not explicitly specified, the primary owner will be the list editor. Editors have explicit posting rights, regardless of any other restrictions that may be placed on the list. On a moderated list, postings from non-editors are forwarded to the primary editor for approval.

Job Code
Two purposes:  1) A title and job code is assigned for every position (paid or unpaid) at the University and these codes are used by the PeopleSoft system to identify individuals for the CFANS lists.  2) An arbitrary job code is assigned by the CFANS list system to identify the individual as a member of a group outside of the PeopleSoft download, i.e., someone added to the faculty lists is assigned the job code 9401, for staff it is 1000, and for P & A it is 9700. Someone added to the all list is assigned a code of 0000. These codes are used only for the purposes of the email lists; they do not have any other effect.

LISTSERV®
A system that makes it possible to create, manage and control electronic "mailing lists" on your network or on the Internet.   It is one of the oldest forms of group communication on the Internet and it got its name “listserv” after the listserv program which helped make these distribution lists popular.

Mailing List
A list of people's names and addresses that is used to send certain messages or announcements to many people at once, who are usually expected to share a common interest in the contents of the message.

Moderated List
An e-mail message sent to a moderated list requires someone in CFANS-OIT to approve the message before it is sent so there may be delays.

Moderator
Postings sent to the list are “held” until the owner approves the message for distribution.  This is useful to determine who is trying to send to the list; if he/she has a legitimate need to post then the owner can add them to approved list.

Note that the subscriber always receives notification that his or her posting has been forwarded to a moderator for approval. This is to avoid the impression that the subscriber's posting has been lost before reaching LISTSERV.

Moderator will catch all posts from non-subscribers--including posts from subscribers who are posting from a different address. For instance, if the subscriber originally signed up as joe@foo.com but is posting from joe@unix1.foo.com, LISTSERV will treat his mail as non-subscriber mail.

Owner
Each list must have at least one owner. The primary owner (the first owner defined) is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the list, and will be the recipient of any delivery error messages which result from list postings, as well as any other administrative messages issued by the server. If there are multiple owners, some may be designated as "quiet" owners. These "quiet" owners will have full ownership authority, but they will not receive administrative or error messages from the server.

Populate/Populated/Populating
Terms used with listservs that mean to add subscriber names to the list.  The subscribers are the people who receive the e-mail messages sent to the list.

Post/Posting
A term used with listservs that means to send an e-mail message to the list. Sometimes listservs are used for discussion groups around a certain topic and the members of the listserv are invited to “post” to the list or respond to questions to the list.

Posting Rights
An individual or an entire list is given rights or permission to send e-mail messages to the list.

Semi-Moderated List
E-mail sent to a list that requires someone in CFANS-OIT to approve the messages if the message is sent by an individual who does not have posting rights.  E-mail messages sent by subscribers on the list will go through without delay.

Spam
Spam is junk or unsolicited commercial e-mail.  It's mail that is bulk-mailed to people who have not requested it, differentiating it from e-mail that you get because you subscribed to some mailing list or receive as approved university correspondence. The messages may contain commercial information, wishes for luck, notices of philanthropic opportunities, humor, etc. Some of them are simply chain letters that ask you to redistribute the message to others.

Subscriber
A person whose e-mail address is on the list and will receive all messages sent to the list. All subscribers can post to the list.

Tables
Thre are three tables for managing CFANS automated e-mail list

1. Main Table – contains entries populated by the University’s PeopleSoft system.\
2. Additions Table – contains entries manually added to the list.
3. Deletions Table – contains entries manually deleted from the list.

X.500 Directory
Every student, faculty member, staff person, and affiliate of the University who is entered into the X.500 directory is given a unique X.500 user name. X.500 accounts are created for staff nightly after entry into the PeopleSoft system, and for new students as part of the registration process. Accounts are set up as needed for affiliates of the University. The X.500 Directory is the source for the Student-Staff Directory and on-line look up services.