Creating New ListsThis section allows a site administrator to create a new LISTSERV list, including the directories necessary for supporting the archives. When creating lists with the web interface under Unix, it is still necessary to make the mail aliases. The web interface will not make these aliases for you. List Creation MethodThere are several ways to create a mailing list, and in most cases, the situation will dictate the choice of one of them over the others. A new mailing list can be created by answering a set of questions about the list setup (Create With Wizard), based on one of many list templates (Create From Template), cloned from an existing list (Clone List), or by entering the list header keywords directly into the list header editor (Paste List Header). Regardless of the method you select, you will have the opportunity to review all the options before creating the list. Create With WizardAnswering a set of questions about the type of list that you want is usually the easiest way to create a list. These questions cover the most fundamental list configuration options, including who can send to the list, who can join the list and whether you want archives to be created. The following choices are available:
The name of a list is a concise name by which the list will be identified. The name should be descriptive but specific. The list name should not be longer than 32 characters and should not include a host name (@XYZ.COM). Because the list name will be used as an email address, special characters are not allowed.
The list title should describe the purpose of the list and must fit on one line. A good title could be "The coffee lovers' list" or "The works of Jack Pianist". Choosing a good title is particularly important for public lists since potential subscribers must be able to quickly identify the purpose of the list just by reading the title.
Defines the email address of the person who "owns" the list. The list owner is responsible for maintaining and controlling access to the list. Every list must have at least one owner.
You have a choice of three types of lists:
Defines who can subscribe to the list. The following options are available:
Defines the categories of users who can send mail to the list. Depending on the type of list that was selected, the following options are available: For Announcement Lists
For Unmoderated Discussion Lists
For Moderated Discussion Lists
Determines whether to maintain changelogs. Changelogs record event data about all list activities, including subscribes, unusubscribes, deletions, messages posted, etc. Changelogs must be enabled to view list activity reports.
Determines whether LISTSERV sends an email notification to all non-quiet list owners for every new subscription or deletion.
Determines how messages with attachments should be handled. The options include accepting messages with attachments, accepting messages but removing the attachments and rejecting messages with attachments. After the list has been created, you can further fine-tune these settings with the "Attachments" keyword.
Determines whether the list and its existence should be hidden from the public. Depending on the type of list, you may want to list it on this site's web archive index or in CataList, the catalog of LISTSERV lists, so that potential subscribers can find it. Confidential lists are completely hidden from the public and are not listed in either the web archive index or CataList.
Note that even if a list appears on the web archive index or in CataList, its archives are not necessarily open to the public unless you explicitly allow this.
Determines whether or not messages posted to the mailing list should be archived and the interval of the archives. The following options are available:
Defines whether the archives should be available to the public or to subscribers only.
Decide the path of the list archives. For normal installations, you can use the suggested archive path. For non-standard installations, you can can type in the desired location where the archives should be saved.
Select whether to create the archive directories manually or to let LISTSERV do it for you. If you have specific security requirements (for example, special access control lists) for the creation of LISTSERV-related directories, you should create the directories now (before creating the list) and uncheck both of the directory creation options. When creating directories for you, LISTSERV attempts to set permissions and protection bits in a sensible manner. To the extent permitted by the operating system, LISTSERV will copy security attributes from the parent directory. If the parent directory does not exist, a warning may be displayed or the operation may fail, depending on the operating system. Either way, the security options may not be set as you expected. A few simple precautions will avoid bad surprises:
Select whether to enable mail-merge for the list. If you enable mail-merge, the default bottom banner will include an automatically generated one-click unsubscribe link for each subscriber. Without mail-merge, the link will instead lead to the generic subscription management page of the list. Create From TemplateWhen starting a list from scratch, another fast method is to pick from a library of pre-made templates (which you can modify or extend by editing the LIST-LIBRARY template using the web template editor). Selecting a template allows you to set dozens of options at once, without having to answer as many questions. The following list templates are available by default:
Clone ListIf the list you are about to create is very similar to an existing list, it is usually faster to clone the original list and make a few final touches as necessary. To clone a list, simply enter the name of the original list, and your list will be based on the original list header. When cloning lists that have archives, make sure to edit the "Notebook" keyword and change the path to reflect the new list name instead of the list being cloned. Paste List HeaderIf you are knowledgeable about list headers and individual keywords, you can also enter the list header keywords directly into the list header editor. This method can also be useful if you are migrating a list from another LISTSERV server and you have a copy of the original list configuration. Selecting this option will bring up a text box with just the new list title. You can then simply enter or paste the list header into the text box. Do not paste the old list title if you are migrating from another server. LISTSERV® is L-Soft's email list management software, originally developed by Eric Thomas in 1986. Visit the LISTSERV® Resource Center for more complete documentation. LISTSERV® is a registered trademark. The trademark identifies LISTSERV® as a brand of email list management software developed by L-Soft. |
LISTSERV 17.1 Help