Mailman Mailing Lists

Mailman is the mailing list software that we use for membership-based mailing lists here at USD. It automates the process of maintaining a mailing list: membership, archives, digests, and special web pages available to list managers and list members.

Please read the following before signing up for a mailing list at the bottom of this page.

What Is A Mailing List?

A Mailing List is a list of people who want to receive electronic mail about a particular topic. In a computerized mailing list, the computer keeps the list. Individuals who are on the list send their mail to the computer. The computer copies individual pieces of mail and sends a copy to each other member of the list.

Mailing Lists usually have a topic. This is something that the members want to talk about. Mailing Lists also need a name, which should have something to do with the topic.

What Is Mailman?

Mailman is the software that runs the mailing list. It keeps the list of everyone who is a member, and it makes sure that members get the individual messages that are sent to the mailing list. It also allows individual members to customize their membership.

What Do I Need to Know?

You need to know how to use web forms, and you need to know electronic mail. You need to be able to use electronic mail because that’s what mailing lists are for, and you need to know how to use web forms because that’s how you’ll control your mailing list. Besides the obvious fact that you’ll need to use electronic mail to take part in the list, you’ll also need to use electronic mail to handle your ownership responsibilities. If you don’t know electronic mail, we’ll be happy to teach you. Give the Tech Support Center (x7900) a call. But do this before you need your mailing list.

Is A Mailing List What You Need?

There are a number of different ways of carrying on conversations across the net. Mailing Lists are best used for conversations over a long period of time, among a limited but large group of people who don’t necessarily know each other. Other options include:

Electronic Mail

For small groups of people, who don’t need any of the special features of a mailing list, ‘distribution lists’ or ‘group lists’ can be created in their normal mail program. This is simply an ‘alias’ for a group of people. When the writer puts the alias on the ‘to’ line, the mail program substitutes everyone on the ‘list’ into the alias. This requires that everyone update their personal group list whenever a new person is ‘added’ to the group.

Real-Time Conferencing

For real-time conversations among groups of people, you can used text-based messaging system such as AIM or video messaging systems such as iChatAV.

The Basics of Mailing Lists

Under mailman, you have a special web page set up for your mailing list. All mailing list functions, including subscribing and unsubscribing, can be performed from that web page.

Authorized Contacts

Authorized contacts must be USD community members, either faculty, staff, or student. Authorized contacts are responsible for maintaining and managing the mailing list. All requests for changes to the mailing list must come from an authorized contact.

You can specify more than one authorized contact who is trusted to make decisions about the mailing list. In fact, we strongly recommend two authorized contacts in case one authorized contact is unavailable during a list emergency. All (and only the) authorized contacts will be trusted by us to make requests about the mailing list, such as changing the list’s password, deleting the mailing list, or making configuration changes. If you do not have multiple authorized contacts, your mailing list may be placed in jeopardy if there are any problems with it and you are unavailable.

While you must specify authorized contacts with us that you trust to control your list, you can specify as many list administrators and moderators as you want on your mailing list management page. We will not trust those administrators to make requests about the mailing list, however. They will need to contact you or your other authorized contacts if they need assistance from us in managing the list.

Joining

In order to use a mailing list, people have to join the mailing list. In order to join your mailing list, prospective members will have to go to your mailing list’s subscription web page. Mailman will create this web page for you, but you will need to provide the URL to prospective members, either through a link on your own web page, or by request when they ask for it.

When a prospective member signs up on the web form, they will receive a confirmation message, which they must reply to. If they don’t reply to the confirmation message, they will not be subscribed. This helps keep people from being subscribed against their will.

In order to unsubscribe from a mailing list, the member must go to the membership management web page, which is on the bottom of every message that comes out from the mailing list. They will need to use their password to unsubscribe. If they do not have their password, they can ask Mailman to send it to them.

Reading

There isn’t much members have to know in order to read messages from a mailing list. They need to know how to read electronic mail at their site. Mail gets sent to them automatically once they join.

Sending

In order to send mail to the mailing list, they need to send to the mailing list’s electronic mail address, which will be LISTNAME@lists.sandiego.edu. Some subjects are disallowed: this is because the mailing list software tries to filter out mail that is accidentally sent to the mailing list. For example, a subject that consists of the word ‘subscribe’ will be rejected: this is most likely a message meant for the -request address of the list. The message will be returned to the sender. If it really is meant for the mailing list, the sender can change the subject. Otherwise, mail that is sent to the mailing list’s address will be copied to everyone else on the mailing list.

Name

Mailing lists need a name. The name must be a reasonable name for an electronic mail address. It must be sixteen letters or less and not have any spaces or punctuation in it except possibly for one dash. Sample mailing list names include:

• COMIX
• COMICW-L
• GUTTERS
• CLOSURE
• NIRVANA
• ACSTAFF
• MOO-WWW
• MOO-COWS
• COMICS-L
• EDIN

Sign Up For a Mailing List

Mailing lists are usually set up on the Monday following the request. The list’s authorized contact must be USD community member with a USD MySanDiego account. You can add further co-managers later, from your list’s management web page, but you must keep your authorized contacts up-to-date with the mailing list administrator at USD. Only the authorized contact(s) may request new passwords for the list or request assistance changing the list’s configuration.

You will need to log in to sign up for a mailing list.