L-Soft international, Inc.
List Owner's Manual
for
LISTSERV®, version 1.8c
December 12, 1996
Initial Release
The reference number of this document is 9612-UD-02.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. L-Soft international, Inc. does not endorse or approve the use of any of the product names or trademarks appearing in this document.

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of L-Soft international, Inc. For information about mirroring this manual on your local site, please contact manuals@lsoft.com.

Copyright © 1996, L-Soft international, Inc.
All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

LISTSERV is a registered trademark licensed to L-Soft international, Inc. L-SOFT and LMail are trademarks of L-Soft international.
LSMTP is a trademark of L-Soft international, Inc. EASE and CataList are service marks of L-Soft international, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Limited.
AIX and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.
Alpha AXP, Ultrix and VMS are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.
OSF/1 is a registered trademark of Open Software Foundation, Inc.
Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows, Windows NT and Windows 95 are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
HP is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company.
Sun is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
IRIX is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc.
PMDF is a registered trademark of Innosoft International.
All other trademarks, both marked and not marked, are the property of their respective owners.

All of L-Soft's manuals for LISTSERV are available in ascii-text format via LISTSERV and in popular word-processing formats via ftp.lsoft.com. They are also available on the World Wide Web at the following URL:

URL: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/index.html

L-Soft invites comment on its manuals. Please feel free to send your comments via e-mail to MANUALS@LSOFT.COM.

Preface: LISTSERV Command Syntax Conventions

1. About Mailing Lists and LISTSERV

2. Starting a Mailing List - The Basics

2.1. Avoid duplication of effort
2.2. What skills do I need to start and maintain a LISTSERV mailing list?
2.3. Creating a mailing list - Where can it be done, and Who can do it?
2.4. List Header Keywords and what they do

2.4.1. Access Control Keywords
2.4.2. Distribution Keywords
2.4.3. Error Handling Keywords
2.4.4. List Maintenance and Moderation Keywords
2.4.5. Security Keywords
2.4.6. Subscription Keywords
2.4.7. Other Keywords

2.5. Sending commands to LISTERV
2.6. Retrieving and editing the list - some considerations
2.7. Defining list owners
2.8. List passwords are now obsolete
2.9. Storing the list on the host machine
2.10. Fixing mistakes
2.11. A sample list header file
2.12. Security options

2.12.1. First line of defense: The VALIDATE= keyword
2.12.2 Controlling subscription requests
2.12.3 Controlling the service area of your list
2.12.4 Controlling who may review the list of subscribers
2.12.5 Controlling who may access the notebook files
2.12.6 Controlling who may post mail to the list
2.12.7 The "OK" confirmation mechanism
2.12.8 Personal passwords
2.12.9 Restricting subscriber privileges
2.12.10 Restricting the number of postings per user to the list per day

3.1. List of Lists maintained by LISTSERV
3.2. Adding HTML to a list header for the CataList

3.2.1. Update latency
3.2.2. Inserting a pointer to another list
3.2.3. Restrictions on the placement of equal signs

3.3. Defining search categories in a list header for the CataList

3.3.1. Examples of category settings

3.4. The INFO <listname> command and how to implement it
3.5. The NEW-LIST project at North Dakota State
3.6. The Internet Network Information Center (INTERNIC)
3.7. The Global List Exchange (GLX) and why you should mention it
3.8. How NOT to advertise a mailing list

4.1. How to add and delete subscribers to/from a list

4.1.1. X.400 and X.500 addressing--Special problems
4.1.2. Adding users whose address and real name exceed 80 characters
4.2. Finding users who do not appear in the list
4.3. Converting mailing lists to LISTSERV from other systems
4.4. Using the QUIET option with commands
4.5. Dealing with bounced mail

4.5.1. What is a bounce, and what can typically cause one?
4.5.2. What to do about several types of bounces
4.5.3. Redistribution lists and why they may cause you migraines

4.6. Automatic and semi-automatic deletion

4.6.1. Auto-Delete considerations for holidays
4.6.2. Automatic address probing

4.7. Subscription confirmation
4.8. Subscription renewal
4.9. The SERVE command
4.10. "Peering" Large Lists

4.10.1 Moving users from one (peer) server to another
4.10.2 Special commands for peered lists only

5.1. How to review current subscription options with QUERY
5.2. How to set personal subscription options for subscribers
5.3. Options that may be set

5.3.1. Mail/NOMail
5.3.2. DIGest/NODIGest
5.3.3. MIME/NOMIME
5.3.4. INDex/NOINDex
5.3.5. ACK/NOACK/MSGack/NONE
5.3.6. Options for mail headers of incoming postings
5.3.7. CONCEAL/NOCONCEAL
5.3.8. REPro/NOREPro
5.3.9. TOPICS
5.3.10. POST/NOPOST
5.3.11. EDITOR/NOEDITOR
5.3.12. REVIEW/NOREVIEW
5.3.13. RENEW/NORENEW

5.4. Setting original default options with the Default-Options= keyword

6.1. List charters, welcome files, and administrative updates
6.2. The role of the list owner as moderator
6.3. The role of the list owner as editor
6.4. Setting up an edited list
6.5. Submitting subscriber contributions to an edited list
6.6. Message approval with Send= Editor,Hold
6.7. Using list topics
6.8. The listname WELCOME and listname FAREWELL files

6.8.1. Creating and storing listname WELCOME and FAREWELL files
6.8.2. Using the listname WELCOME file as a moderation tool
6.8.3. Using the listname FAREWELL file as a feedback tool
6.8.4. The alternative to using WELCOME and FAREWELL files

6.9. Social conventions (netiquette)
6.10. Spamming: what it is, and what to do about it
6.11. Appropriate use policies: considerations

7.1. What is the list archive?
7.2. Setting up and managing archive notebooks

7.2.1. Indexing available archive notebooks
7.2.2. Deleting existing archive notebooks

7.3. Database Functions Overview

7.3.1. LISTSERV Command Job Language Interpreter
7.3.2. A basic database session (VM servers only)
7.3.3. A basic database session (non-VM servers running 1.8c or later only)
7.3.4. Narrowing the search

7.4. Where to find more information on Database Functions

8.1. What is the file archive?
8.2. Starting a filelist
8.3. Filelist maintenance (VM systems only)

8.3.1 Retrieving the filelist
8.3.2 Adding file descriptors to the filelist
8.3.3. File Access Codes (FAC) for user access
8.3.4 Deleting file descriptors from the filelist
8.3.5. Storing the filelist

8.4. The listname.CATALOG system on non-VM systems (new for 1.8c)

8.4.1. Updating the sub-catalog
8.4.2. Indexing the sub-catalog

8.5. Storing files on the host machine
8.6. Deleting files from the host machine
8.7. Automatic File Distribution (AFD) and File Update Information (FUI)
8.8. "File Packages"
8.9. Where to find more information on File Archives

9.1. What LISTSERV uses mail templates for
9.2. The DEFAULT.MAILTPL file and how to get a copy
9.3. Mail template format and embedded formatting commands
9.4. Creating a listname.MAILTPL file for a list

9.4.1. The INFO section
9.4.2. Other useful templates
9.4.3. Tips for using templates

9.5. Storing the listname.MAILTPL file on the host machine
9.6. Other template files: DIGEST-H and INDEX-H
9.7. Using the DAYSEQ(n) function

9.7.1. Rotating bottom banner
9.7.2. Rotating FAQ via the PROBE1 template and "Renewal= xx-Daily"

10.1. Why would I want to?
10.2. How to go about it
10.3. Special considerations and problems with gatewaying

11.1. Helping subscribers figure out the answers
11.2. Loop-checking can cause occasional problems with quoted replies
11.3. User can't unsubscribe and/or change personal options
11.4. Firewalls
11.5. What to do if LISTSERV won't store your list
11.6. If I can't find the answer, where do I turn?