Owners Checklist - Listproc 8.1

Middle Tennessee State University
ListProc Information

OWNERS CHECKLIST - LISTPROC 8.1

Any faculty, staff or an administrator of MTSU can sponsor a discussion list for class instruction, research projects or any other subject related to MTSU's mission. Owners are responsible for the functions of the list and managing the error messages.

To create a list contact the list administrator, listadm@frank.mtsu.edu, with the following information

Name of the list
The name of the list is usually one word or an acronym, which is representative of the list's subject, followed by (minus sign and el). A list name must be eight (8) characters or fewer in length, not including the (minus sign and el) at the end of the name. A character can be a letter, number or minus sign (-). The first character of the list name must be a letter.

List names are not case sensitive. The list name must be unique to MTSU's list server. The name of the list is also the first part of your list address (the address that you and your subscribers use to communicate with the entire group of subscribers).

Short description
A statement which identifies the purpose of the list.

E-mail address
This is the address that appears in the "From:" field of the messages you send.

Type of list
The type of list defines who can view and contribute to the mailing list.

Normal
A normal list is open to anyone worldwide for subscribing and continuing discussion. A normal list is unmoderated and unrestricted.

Moderated
A moderated list is open to anyone for subscribing, but the list owner must approve all messages before they are distributed. This is more time-consuming than a normal list. A list can be both moderated and restricted.

Restricted
A restricted list is open only to subscribers who have been approved by the list owner. Restricted lists are more time-consuming to maintain than a normal list. You must read and approve all subscriptions to the list. A list can be both moderated and restricted.

Archive
An archive for a mailing list is a place where the digests of postings sent to the list since its creation are stored. If you choose to have an archive, the ListProc server automatically saves all postings to your list. Subscribers can access these archives through ListProc commands.

If you do not choose to archive your list, there will be no saved record of postings to your list.

Termination Date
Do you plan to run your mailing list for the duration on one class semester? If you know when you want the list to be terminated you should specify the month, day and year; otherwise, the termination date will be unknown.

Once the list administrator has created the list, you will receive a message along with a password. You as the owner can use the "config" command to obtain the current settings of the list. The "config" command is not case sensitive. The owner of the list should send a message to listproc@frank.mtsu.edu with the subject field blank. The message body should be:

Config list-name list-password

Listproc will return a listing of all of the current configuration settings of the list.

This is an example of the message from listproc@frank.mtsu.edu with the configuration settings of the list.

EXAMPLE:

From listproc@frank.mtsu.edu Wed Mar 4 13:26:15 1998
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 09:54:10 CST
From: "MTSU ListProcessor(tm)"
To: lsmyth@frank.mtsu.edu
Subject: CONFIG TST-1 XXXX

Configuration of ListProcessor(tm) list tst-1@frank.mtsu.edu
VISIBLE-LIST
OPEN-SUBSCRIPTIONS
SUBSCRIPTION-MANAGERS [owners] (inactive) SEND-BY-ALL
STATISTICS-TO-ALL
REVIEW-BY-ALL
ARCHIVES-TO-ALL
ARCHIVE "" messages
UNCOMPRESSED-ARCHIVES
UNMODERATED
DELIVERY-ERRORS-TO [owners]
DIGEST daily 23:00 1000 0
NO-MESSAGE-LIMIT
COMMENT Test List
DEFAULT ADDRESS FIXED (system default)
MAIL ACK (system default)
PASSWORD .* (system default)
CONCEAL NO (system default)
PREFERENCE CCERRORS CCALL
AUTO-DELETE-SUBSCRIBERS
DONT-FORWARD-REJECTS
REPLY-TO-OMITTED
KEEP-RESENT-LINES
REFLECTOR
UNPUBLISHED-LIST
DONT-CONFIRM-ALL-SUBSCRIPTIONS
DONT-CONFIRM-ALL-UNSUBSCRIPTIONS
NO-ALTERNATE-ADDRESS-COMMANDS
DONT-ALLOW-EMPTY-SUBSCRIBER-NAMES
OWNERS lsmyth@frank.mtsu.edu
PASSWORD lsxx
THREADS 1
MTA-HOST frank.mtsu.edu (system default) 25
MANAGER-CONTROLLED

This is a brief explanation of some of the configuration settings.

Digest daily 23:00 1000 0
This is the digest option. The standard for all lists at MTSU is to digest daily or when 1000 lines of messages are accumulated. The specific time is stated in 24-hour time or military time. This is a variable time set by the system manager. This should always be between 23:00 and 02:00.

Auto-delete-subscribers
This is a standard to automatically delete subscribers whose addresses cause delivery problems.

Wide-open-list
Opens up subscriptions to anyone. This sets the list to:
- Visible
- Review-by-all
- Reflector

Manager-controlled
Enforces that only the manager can remove owners and change the list password. This supports our policy that the owner is known and a member of the institution. When a list is manager controlled an owner can't change the owner, archive or password options.

Comment
Specifies the one-line content of the to:header line on outgoing list mail.

Consider the following options to make the list more efficient.

Create INFO and WELCOME files.
Use the EDIT and PUT commands. The owner can request a copy of the info and welcome file with the EDIT command. This will return the contents of the files. A message should be sent to listproc@frank.mtsu.edu with the subject field blank. The message body should be:

Edit list-name list-password info

To request the welcome file the command will look like this:

Edit list-name list-password welcome

To create the info and welcome file. The command should be sent to listproc@frank.mtsu.edu with the subject field blank. The message will look like this

Put list-name list-password info

Put list-name list-password info

This is a test list for the new version of listproc.

To create the welcome file the command will look like this:

Put list-name list-password welcome

Welcome to the TEST-LIST. To subscribe send a message to listproc@frank.mtsu.edu

Sub TEST-LIST Lisa Smyth

The owner can submit the "config" command using the following options to listproc@frank.mtsu.edu to modify the settings of the list

Do you want to have OPEN, CLOSED or OWNER-CONTROLLED subscriptions on the list?
OPEN subscriptions means that anyone can subscribe to the list without approval. To configure your list use the option OPEN-SUBSCRIPTIONS. This is the default setting when the list is created.

CLOSED subscriptions means that no one can submit subscribe commands to the list. To configure the list use the option CLOSED-SUBSCRITPIONS.

OWNER-CONTROLLED means that all subscription commands are forwarded to the subscription manager. If no subscription manager is specified with the SUBSCRIPTION-MANAGERS option then the owner will receive all forwarded subscriptions. To configure the list use the option OWNER-SUBSCRIPTIONS.

Do you want to have a moderated or unmoderated list?
A moderated list means that the moderator approves messages before they are sent to the list There are two levels of a moderated list.

MODERATED-NO-EDIT option means that the moderator is presented with a message and tag#. The moderator will approve the message for the list or discard the message.

MODERATED-EDIT option means that the moderator can approve the message for the list, edit the message before the message is sent to the list or discard the message for the list.

An unmoderated list means that all messages are forwarded to everyone on the list automatically. This is the default setting when the list is created. To set the list back to unmoderated once it has been changed to a moderated list use the UNMODERATED option.

Do you want a hidden or visible list?
A hidden list means that anyone requesting a list of all the lists available on the server will not see the list. To configure the list use the option HIDDEN-LIST.
A visible list means that anyone requesting a list of all the lists available on the server will see the list. To configure the list use the option VISIBLE-LIST. This is the default setting when the list is created.

How much information can people get about your list?
Every list has an info file, a one-line description, a series of settings and attributes and a list of subscribers.
- Who can review the list?
  Anyone has permission to review the list using the review request. To configure the list use the option REVIEW-BY-ALL. This is the default setting when the list is created.
  
  To restrict permission to review the list to owners only use the option REVIEW-BY-OWNERS.
  
  To restrict permission to review requests for the list to the subscribers or the owners of the list only use the option REVIEW-BY-SUBSCRIBERS.
- Who can see statistics for the list?
  Anyone has permission to see the statistics of the list using the statistics request. To configure the list use the option STATISTICS-BY-ALL. This is the default setting when the list is created.
  
  To restrict permission to see the statistics of the list to owners only use the option STATISTICS-BY-OWNERS. To restrict permission to see statistics requests of the list to subscribers and owners of the list only use the option STATISTICS-BY-SUBSCRIBERS.
- Who can see a list of the subscribers on the list? If you want the subscribers to be concealed when someone requests the subscribers for the list, use the option DEFAULT CONCEAL YES
  
  If you do not want the subscribers to be concealed when someone requests the subscribers for the list, use the option DEFAULT CONCEAL NO. This is the default setting when the list is created.

Do you want to archive your list? The system manager will control this function because the lists are manager-controlled. Contact the list administrator at listadm@frank.mtsu.edu. All of the lists are manager-controlled which allows only the system manager to make owner, archive and password changes regarding the list.

As an owner how much information about the lists operations do you want to receive? If the list is open and you want to know about all new subscribers use the option DEFAULT PREFERENCE CCSUBSCRIBE CCUNSUBSCRIBE

Every time someone sends a request for a list of recipients, for information, for list statistics, for a review of the list or run a command and you want to receive a copy of the LISTPROC's response use the option DEFAULT PREFERENCE CCREVIEW CCSTATISTICS CCINFORMATION CCRECIEPIENTS

Every time a message comes in from someone on your list or in your .ignore file and you want to know use the option DEFAULT PREFERENCE CCIGNORE

If you want copies of all error messages use the options DEFAULT PREFERENCE CCERRORS and DEFAULT PREFERENCE CCALL. This will be the default setting when the list is created.

To designate someone as recipient of error messages use the option DELIVERY-ERRORS-TO address

Do you want the list to be private or public?
For anyone to be able to post to the list, including non-subscribers use the option SEND-BY-ALL. This is the default setting when the list is created.

To restrict the postings of the list to owners only ( one way list). This does not imply a moderated list. Use the option SEND-BY-OWNERS.

To restrict postings to subscribers and owners only use the option SEND-BY-SUBSCRIBERS.

The ListProc 8.1 Owner's Reference Card can provide additional information to the list owner. This is available on the web site, www.mtsu.edu/~listadm. Also you can do wnload additional help information from CREN's web site, www.cren.net/listproc/docs/index.html