Lists@Case

The Mailing List Manager at Case Western Reserve University

The new mailing list manager is now available at lists.case.edu.

At first the new list manager looks complicated. It is complex but it is not hard to use once you know what to do. Here are the basic steps for using the list manager.

Log In

First you should log into the server. Most of the features of the list manager are only available after you log in.

To log in from the Home page, enter your Case Network ID (or your email address) and your Case Network ID Password in the appropriate boxes at the bottom of the page. Or from any page you may select the Login tab at the top left of the page and enter the same information in the pop-up window.

Note: You may log in using your Case Network ID or any email address that our LDAP server knows you by. These include your first.last address, any of your personal mail aliases, and your uid@case.edu address. Administrative or Departmental aliases will NOT work here.

In some cases a non-case user will need to log into the web site. (all members of all the mailing lists can get access to the archives and shared files for the lists they are on) Non-Case users will need to log in using the email address they are subscribed as, and the password that was sent to them when they subscribed.

Note: Case users will be sent a password when they subscribe to a list but (as the new subscriber email states) they should NOT use this password, they should use their Case Network ID Password.

Now that you are logged in you will see your email address and your status at the top left, and a lot more menu choices at the top right of the page. Oh yes, and the Login tab will change to a Logout Tab. Use that to log out when you are done.

Subscribe To A List

To subscribe to a mailing list it helps to know what lists are available.

The Home page is the place to start. From here you can search for a list using the search function, or you can list all of the available lists either by class (Administrative, Departmental, etc) by clicking on the appropriate header, or you may view the entire list by clicking on the "view all lists" button. You will then get a list of the mailing lists you may subscribe to. Just select a list by clicking on it and you will be taken to that list's list info page. It will have a more detailed description of the list and a number of options on the left hand side of the page.

• Subscriber Options: How do you want to receive the mail (normal, digest, list, url's, etc) and your visibility on the list.
• Subscribe (or Unsubscribe if you are already subscribed): This is the easy way to subscribe or unsubscribe to/from the list.
• Archive: Lets you view the mail archives and shared files for this list. (if available)
• Post: One way to send mail to the list.
• Review: Lists who is subscribed to the list. (Not available by default)

You may also subscribe to a list by sending email to listname-request@case.edu (where listname is the name of the mailing list) with the word subscribe in the subject (and/or body) of the message.

Yet another way to subscribe to a list is to send email to lists@case.edu with the command subscribe listname in the subject (and/or body) of the message.

Create A List

To create a new mailing list select Create List from the menu tabs at the top right of the page. Fill in the form and you have your list.

Note: Any Case user can create a mailing list. Non-Case users can fill out the form but the request will be either rejected immediately or sent to the listmaster who will then reject it. So non-case users should not try to create lists here.

The form will ask you to fill in the name of the list, (letters, numbers, and hyphens only) the list type (described below), the Title (a one line description of the list), the Topic (which category is it listed under), and a detailed description of the list.

We have created four basic types of mailing lists for you to choose from. These can be further modified by the owner once the list is created.

The basic types are:

• Case Only: Only Case accounts can subscribe to this list.
• Moderated: The moderator approves all subscriptions and postings.
• Open: Anyone in the world can subscribe and post (once subscribed).
• Private: It is not listed anywhere on the web site unless you are already subscribed.

By default only subscribers can post to a list (moderated lists have to be approved by the moderator) and only subscribers can view the archives and shared files.

Of course all of these options and many more can be changed at any time by the owner of the list but that is not needed at this time so we will leave that discussion for an advanced Moderators Guide.

Managing Your Lists

If you are one of the owners or moderators of a list (there can be more than one) an Admin button will appear next to your list in the view lists mode. That is the list of lists available off of the Home page, or the quicker and easier Your Subscriptions menu option at the top right of the page. Clicking on the Admin button will take you to the List Administration Panel for that list.

You may also get to the List Administration Panel by selecting the List Admin button from the list info page.

This is the most complicated part of the mailing list manager. There are dozens of pages of options that you can fiddle with. Most of them you can safely ignore unless you really want to tailor your list into something unique.

There are, however, a few that you will need to become familiar with.

Below all of the Title bars you will see the List Administration Panel. There you will see another set of buttons for all of the different list administration options.

Let's start with Subscribers.

This is where you manage all of the email accounts that are subscribed to your list. You may:

• Add email addresses: Type "email address, Full Name" in the text field and click on the Add button. (the full name is optional)
• Pending Subscriptions: Takes you to the list of subscription requests. Select the users you want to add or reject and click the add or reject button.
• Multiple Add: Lets you enter a list of email addresses (and optional full names) to be added as subscribers.
• Remind All Subscribers: Sends an account reminder email to all subscribers.
• Delete Selected Email Addresses: Removes from the list all the users that have been selected in the subscribers table listing.

Note: Checking the Don't Send Notification To Subscriber check box will perform the action without sending email to the user being added or deleted.

Next we will skip to the Moderate tab. This is where you accept or reject messages for the list.

The moderators will also get the messages in email and can accept or reject them via email by using the appropriate mailto: URL included in each message.

The Customizing tab will let you change many of the messages that are automatically sent to your subscribers. These include the Welcome message, the Unsubscribe message, the Deletion message, etc.

You can also modify the text on the list's list info web page and the list description and create message headers and message footers that are included in each email message sent to the list.

The files you create are templates that use replacement strings so each message is customized to the recipient. For example, the default Unsubscribe message is as follows:

	From: [conf->email]@[conf->host]
	Subject: Unsubscription from [list->name]

 	Your email address ([user->email]) has been removed from the list [list-
>name]@[list->host]
 	bye !

When sent, the mailing list manager will fill in the message with the actual user Name, List name, etc.

Note: A list of all of the replacement strings will be made available as soon as I can find one!

The Bounces tab is for managing subscribers that bounce too much mail.

Detailed instruction will have to wait until I can get some bounced email to see how it works.

Shared Documents: The new mailing list manager has the ability to create an area on the web server for uploading shared documents.

For example, if you have a 2MB file that you want all of your 2500 subscribers to have access to but you don't want to burden the mail servers and your subscribers email accounts with 2500 copies of the file via email, you can simply upload the file to the shared documents area of your mailing list and send your 2500 subscribers the URL.

The Shared Documents area is not enabled by default. Clicking on the Create Shared tab will activate the area for your list.

Once activated the Create Shared tab will change to a Delete Shared tab. To close the Shared Documents area click on the Delete Shared tab. Then the tab will change to a Restore Shared tab. To re-activate the Shared Documents area click on the Restore Shared tab. Easy huh?

Note: By activating the Shared Documents area you take responsibility for maintaining that area. You must manage your disk quota and make sure that all shared files are legal. Any abuse of this feature will result in the removal of your mailing list and possible disciplinary action by the University.

Once in the Shared Documents page you will be given a list of any shared files and folders. You may also create new folders, create new files (a text form on the web page), add a link to another web page, or upload a file from your computer. Who can access, edit or delete these file will be explained in the Edit List Config section below.

The Remove List tab does just that. It closes the list and prevents anyone from using it. (Even the list owners - that means YOU) Once a list is closed only a Listmaster can open it up again. And after [some yet to be determined time] the list will be purged and then it is gone forever. Don't remove a list unless you really want it gone! The Listmasters are not here to rescue deleted lists. Don't expect them to.

And now for the big one. The Mother of all List Configuration editors. The Edit List Config tab. The Edit List Config tab contains six pages (I removed several more that you should NOT be fiddling with) of options that you can change whenever you like. It looks overwhelming but if you take it one piece at a time it is not that bad. In fact, if you want, you could never change anything here and your list will work just fine. But if you want to change how the email is sent or who can lookup other subscribers or who has access to the shared folders, this is the place to do it.

So let's start with the first page. The List Definition page. This is where you modify the basic structure of the list itself.

You can change the Subject (a.k.a. the Title) - The one line description that appears next to the list name throughout the web pages.

You can change the Visibility of the list. Who can see the list on the web pages. Your choices are:

• no conceal - Anyone can see the list on the web pages.
• intranet access - Only Case users can see the list on the web pages.
• conceal except for subscribers - Only subscribers can see the list on the web pages.
• subscribers only (private) - I can see no difference between this and the one above.
• conceal even for subscribers (secret) - The list is invisible to anyone accessing the web pages.

You can change or add owners or moderators of the list by filling in the blank forms under the appropriate section. To remove an owner or moderator delete the email address from the appropriate entry. (Case users may also be entered using Network ID's or mail aliases and the correct email address and name field will be filled in for you if you leave the name field blank)

You may also change, add, or delete the Topics that this list will appear under. (ie. Departmental Mailing List, etc.)

At this time the Language support for lists is not fully developed. I do not recommend using anything other than english.

The next page is the Sending/Reception page. this is where you can modify the rules for who gets what and when.

The one you are most likely to change here is the Who can send messages rule. There are far too many choices available here so have fun.

The basic ones you will probably use are:

• restricted to subscribers (private) - Only subscribers can post to the list. List is not moderated.
• moderated (editorkey) - All posts are sent to the moderator for approval.
• restricted to the local domain (intranet) - Only Case users can post to the list. The list is not moderated.

There are lot's of other options for you to play with if you want to try them out.

You can set when the digests are sent out (minimum of once a week)

You can restrict the form of the email if you want to but I don't recommend it.

You can change the default reply-to address to list, sender, all, or an address of your choice.

And you can change the Subject tag (or delete it).

The Privileges page lets you set who can do what.

The things you can set include:

• Who can view the on-line list information
• Who can subscribe to the list.
• Who can unsubscribe from the list.
• Who can send out list invitation email.
• Who can see the current list of subscribers.
• Who can view shared documents.
• Who can edit shared documents.
• What is the user disk quota for shared documents.

The Archives page lets you set who can see the mailing list message archives on the web.

At this time the Bounce page is not configurable. It tells you the current settings for dealing with subscribers who's email bounces.

Finally, the Miscellaneous page has some more things to play with.

It is mostly informational but can be used to set automated expire and remind tasks.
(this section is not yet well understood - don't play with it)