LISTSERV General Commands

Below are LISTSERV general commands for managing your mailing list using e-mail. You may also manage your mailing list using LISTSERV's WWW interface.

Controlling your list

  • Control your list by sending mail messages to
    • listserv@lists.vcu.edu (The subject line of the message doesn't matter, just the body)

Subscription and Review Comands

  • Add someone to your list by typing
    • add my-list someone@some.where.edu Full Name

The name must be at least two words. Notification will be sent to the user.

If you have a signature file added to your messages, LISTERV will probably complain about it. To avoid the complaints, you can put // eoj after your commands:

add my-list someone@some.where.edu Full Name
// eoj

  • To add someone without the notification, start the command with "quiet":

    quiet add my-list someone@some.where.edu Full Name
    // eoj

  • To add three people in one message:

    quiet add my-list someone@some.where.edu Full Name
    quiet add my-list another@some.where.edu Full Name
    quiet add my-list third@somewhere.else.edu Full Name
    // eoj

  • To remove someone:

    delete my-list someone@some.where.edu
    // eoj

    or

    quiet delete my-list someone@some.where.edu
    // eoj

    Here you don't add the name.
    To see who's on your list:

    review my-list
    // eoj

    Occasionally someone will opt not to be listed in the review command.
    To show those people, use:

    query my-list with conceal for *@*
    // eoj

Welcome and Farewell messages
  • To add or change welcome and farewell messages, you'll need a personal
    password. To give yourself the password "secret-password", use the
    PW ADD command:

    pw add secret-password
    // eoj

    You'll get a message from the LISTSERV asking you to confirm the new
    password. Just reply to the message, with

    ok

    as the first line of your reply. If you've forgotten your password, send

    pw change secret-password
    // eoj

    Now send a message to listserv@lists.vcu.edu that looks like this:

    put my-list welcome pw=secret-password
    Subject: Welcome to my list!
    Hope you like it.
    We have fun here.

    Everyone who joins the list will be sent a message with the Subject line:
    "Welcome to my list!".
    The body of the message will be:
    "Hope you like it.
    We have fun here."

    You can arrange for a similar message to be sent to anyone leaving the list with PUT MY-LIST FAREWELL instead of PUT MY-LIST WELCOME.

  • List Archives

    • Your list can be archived, with all its messages for each month saved in a file. To see what months are available, use
    • index my-list
      // eoj

      You'll get back a response something like this:

      *
      * Archive files for the MY-LIST list at VENUS.VCU.EDU
      * (monthly logs)
      * rec last - change
      * filename filetype GET PUT -fm lrecl nrecs   date    time
      * -------- -------- --- --- --- ----- ----- -------- --------
         MY-LIST  LOG9706 LOG OWN  V   79    112  97/06/27  16:40:07
         MY-LIST  LOG9707 LOG OWN  V   79    105  97/07/24  15:41:37
         MY-LIST  LOG9708 LOG OWN  V   79    266  97/08/29  14:05:32
         MY-LIST  LOG9709 LOG OWN  V   79    28   97/09/03  16:16:00
      

      To retrieve the August archive, for example, send

      get my-list log9708
      // eoj

      Anyone on your list can do this. They can also search the archives:

      search my-list word or phrase
      // eoj

      For instance, here's a search of VCU's SYSALERT list for the phrase "planned power outage":

      search sysalert planned power outage
      // eoj

      The result of this search follows:

      > search sysalert planned power outage
      -> 1 match.

      Item #   Date   Time  Recs Subject
      ------   ----   ----  ---- -------
      000009 97/08/01 08:00  89  fwd: Planned Power Outage - Business School
      

      To order a copy of this posting, send the following command:

                                           GETPOST SYSALERT 9
      
      >>> Item #9 (1 Aug 1997 08:00) - fwd: Planned Power Outage - Business School
      From:         bill jones <wmjones@VCU.EDU>
      Subject:      fwd: Planned Power Outage - Business School
                         ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^
      Comments: To: dbrobst@saturn.vcu.edu, kguyre@saturn.vcu.edu,
      ***************
      This should not affect any network equipment except on the first floor of
      the School of Business. Should the power to the entire building go out, the
                                         ^^^^^
      router (on the fourth floor) feeds Oliver-Education as well as Business.
      

      We don't get the complete message back, but we are told how to get it:

      getpost sysalert 9
      // eoj

     

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