©1996, I. Borrás

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Bennington College

LISTSERV

Listserv: Introduction

Electronic mail allows groups of people to discuss issues, share information, or ask questions related to a common topic. The groups go by different names: discussion lists, interests groups, Listserv, or mailing lists. When you're a member of a list you need to know two addresses:

 

  1. The address of the list, sometimes called the list address. This is the address you'll use to communicate with the list. When you send e-mail to this address, the mail is delivered to all members of the list.
  2. The address to request services from or give commands to the manager of the list. This address is sometimes called the administrative address of the list. Most lists are automatically managed by software. Some lists are maintained by individuals or groups of users.

Five prevalent types of software are used for running mailing lists: Listserv, Listproc, Mailbase, Mailserv, and Majordomo. These systems all allow the same kinds of services. You can tell which software manages the list by looking at the administrative address, the address you susbscribe to the list.

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How to join a list

In order to join a list you need to send an e-mail to the address for the list. The e-mail should contain the word subscribe and the name of the list. For most lists you should include your full name (first name, last name), unless you're subscribing to a list that is managed by Majordomo. Here is a list to which you may want to subscribe:

List Name:

IECC (Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections)

List address:

iecc-request@stolaf.edu

Brief Description:

IECC is intended for teachers seeking partner classrooms for international
and cross-cultural electronic mail exchanges. This list is geared specifically
to the primary and secondary levels (K-12). This list is not for discussion
or for people seeking individual penpals.

To join:

Send an e-mail to the address of the list with the message: "subscribe List
Name Your Name." For instance: subscribe IECC Isabel Borras

You may also be interested in the related IECC mailing lists:

You may subscribe to the above lists by sending a message containing the word "subscribe" to:

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How to communicate with and contribute to a list

Once you have subscribed to a mailing list, you ought to receive a response from the software managing the list within a few minutes, hours, or maybe a day or two. Save the welcome message you will receive because it usually contains important information about commands to use, or directions to follow.

Here is, for instance, some of the information you would receive if you subscribed to IECC: 


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Getting a list of archived files

Many lists are archived, which means that collections of past messages are kept so they can be retrieved by members. To get a list of the names of the files in a group's archives send e-mail containing the command:

Index List Name

to the administrative address for the list. For example, to get the archives for the list "Causerie," send the message:

Index Causerie

to :

listserver@inrs-urb.uquebec.ca

 

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Searching the names of all Listserv lists by e-mail

You can search through the names of all Listserv lists by sending the command:

lists global / Keyword(s)

to any Listserv site. For instance, to search for lists dealing with library science, send the command:

lists global / library science

to:

listserv@bitnic.educom.edu

 

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How to leave a list

To leave a list send an e-mail to the address of the list with the message:

unsubscribe List Name

For instance, to leave the "IECC" list send the message:

unsubscribe IECC

to:

iecc-request@stolaf.edu

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Sites: Lists-Resources

Electronic Mail Lists for K-12 Educators

E-Mail Discussion Groups/Lists - Resources

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