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Mailing Lists (ListServ)

ListServ is Concordia's new electronic mailing list software, replacing Majordomo. It allows a sender to send one email to the list, which will be distributed to many individuals (subscribers to that list).

There are new features that were not available with Majordomo, such as:

  • List owner can now manage subscribers (add/remove/mass subscription) of their list via the Web interface
  • List owner can compose (text/html) and send to their list via the Web interface
  • List owner can authenticate using their Concordia Exchange email address and password
  • A list can have multiple list owners (each list owner must have a valid Exchange email account)
  • List subscribers can authenticate using their Concordia Exchange email address and password then manage their subscription

Who can use it?

Faculty, staff, and graduate students who have a valid Exchange email account.

How much does it cost?

There is no cost associated with this service.

How to get it?

To request the creation of a new mailing list, send an email to help@concordia.ca with the following information:

  • List name (no space and special characters except dash, e.g., CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT)
  • List short description (1 line): A brief description about the list and what it's for
  • List description (if different from short description, can be multiple lines): If there is a longer description and about list
  • List owner(s)'s email addresses, must be Concordia Exchange addresses
  • Is it going to be a private or a public (With confirmation) list?
  • Will it be moderated? If so, who will be the moderator(s)?
  • Who can join the list? 1/ Anyone, 2/ By List Owner (People request to subscribe, Owner must approve), or 3/ Closed (Cannot subscribe, only Owner can add)

Service availability

24/7

Maintenance window

All maintenance will be performed outside of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Note: To request a change to the list configuration after the list is created, list owners should send a request to help@concordia.ca.

 

FAQ

  • Open https://lists.concordia.ca
  • Enter your Concordia email address (firstname.lastname@concordia.ca)
  • Password is your Netname password

Notes:

  • Only Concordia users with a current valid Exchange email account can login to ListServ.
  • Non-Exchange users/email addresses might be able to subscribe to lists, but list owners must have a current valid Exchange email account.

  1. Using email commands: if you know a mailing list's name, you can subscribe to it using your email (Concordia Exchange account, or others, e.g., ENCS/Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail, etc.).

For example, for a mailing list called “CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT”

  • Compose an email to send to listserv@lists.concordia.ca.
  • Email Subject: Listserv
  • In the email body, simply put the following:
    SUBscribe CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT Your Name
Screen capture of email body

You will receive an automated email shortly with a confirmation link. You must click on this link to complete the subscription.

Screen capture of an automated email containing a confirmation link
  1. Using the web interface: if you have an Exchange account and can login to https://lists.concordia.ca and know which list(s) you would like to subscribe to.
  • Click on “Subscriptions” under “Subscriber Options”
  • Click on the menu (three dashes to the right)
  • Click on “Search Archives” then look through the list of lists. Locate the one to subscribe to and click on it.
  • Click on the menu (three dashes to the right), then click “Subscribe or Unsubscribe”
  • On the next screen, verify the information, then click “Subscribe” and follow the instructions.

  1. Using the web interface, if you have an Exchange account and can login:
  • Login to ListServ
  • On the top navigation bar, click on “Subscriber's Corner”
  • You'll find the list(s) you're currently subscribed to
  • Click the checkbox next to the list(s) you want to unsubscribe from, then from drop down select “Unsubscribe” then click “Submit”
Screen capture of the ListServ interface My Lists tab
  1. Using your email (Concordia Exchange account, or others, e.g., ENCS/Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail, etc.) you can unsubscribe if you know a mailing list's name

For example, to unsubscribe from a mailing list called “CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT”

In the email body, simply put the following and send:
SIGNOFF CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT

Screen capture of the email body
  • You will receive an automated email confirming the unsubscribe:
Screen capture of an automated email confirming removal from a list

  1. Using the web interface, once you're logged in
  • On the top navigation bar, click on “Subscriber's Corner”
  • You'll find the list(s) you're currently subscribed to
  • Click on “Post” next to the list you want to send to
Screen capture of the ListServ interface My Lists tab
  • Compose the message then click “Send Message.”
  1. Using your email (Concordia Exchange account, or others, e.g., ENCS/Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail, etc.), you can also unsubscribe from a mailing list, if you know its name.

For example, for the mailing list called “CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT,” the email address of this list is CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT@lists.concordia.ca.

Compose then send your message to CONCORDIALISTSERVSUPPORT@lists.concordia.ca

  • Open https://lists.concordia.ca and log in
  • Because you are a list owner, there's an added top navigation menu called “List Management,” click on it and select “Subscriber Management”:
Screen capture of the List Management menu
  • In Subscriber Management, you can:
  1. Search for people in your list then unsubscribe (Delete), 
  2. Add individual subscribers to the list, 
  3. Subscribe new members in bulk by preparing a CSV file.

In order to add or remove an owner from a mailing list, please send an email to help@concordia.ca with the full name and email address of the individuals that will have to be added/removed.

In order to use a command, please send an email to listserv@lists.concordia.ca with the command in the body of the email only.

Join a list

subscribe [listname] Firstname Lastname 

(e.g., subscribe g-h-mead John Doe

Leave a list

signoff [listname]

(Or leave all lists on the server:)

signoff *

(Or leave all LISTSERV lists in the network:)

signoff * (netwide)

Look at your subscription options (which may be changed with the “set” command)

query [listname]

(Or to query all lists you are subscribed to on that server:)

query *

Receive the list in digest format (multiple messages compiled into a single daily or weekly mailing) set [listname] digest
Cancel digest format; receive the list as separate mailings set [listname] nodigest
Suspend mail temporarily (without unsubscribing) set [listname] nomail
Resume receipt of messages

set [listname] mail

Receive copies of your own messages

set [listname] repro

(Or to receive simply an automatic acknowledgement that your message has been sent to the list, use:)

set [listname] ack

Do not receive copies of your own messages

set [listname] norepro

(To not receive an automatic acknowledgement that your message has been sent to the list, use:)

set [listname] noack

Obtain a list of subscribers

review [listname]

(Can also be sorted by name or by country:)

review [listname] (by name
-- or --
review [listname] (by country

(Or specify more than one sort field at once:)

review [listname] (by (country name)

Conceal your address, so that it does not appear on the list of subscribers

set [listname] conceal

(To reverse this command, use:)

set [listname] noconceal

Obtain a list of lists maintained by the list server

lists

To obtain a list of all known LISTSERV lists, send the command

lists global

To search for LISTSERV lists with a given keyword or character string in the description, send the command

lists global /[keyword]

Obtain a list of archive files for a particular list index [listname]
Retrieve an archive file

get [filename] [filetype]

where the filenames and filetypes for archive files are given as results of an "index [listname]" command.

(e.g., get g-h-mead log9706c)

Search the archives for keywords or user names

LISTSERV has a sophisticated and powerful search engine, using a batch-coded search language to construct queries:

search [word1 [word2 [...]]] in [listname] from [date1] to [date2]

-- or --

search [word1 [word2 [...]]] in [listname] from [date1] to today

-- or --

search [word1 [word2 [...]]] in [listname] from today-30

-- or --

search [word1 [word2 [...]]] in [listname] from [date1] to [date2] where sender contains [xxxx] and/or subject contains [yyyy]

These commands have to be sent as single lines with no carriage returns. Boolean combinations, nesting with parentheses, and a great number of other capabilities are supported.

For a full description of LISTSERV search functions, including information on how to retrieve search results, send an "info database" command.

Retrieve messages from the archives

getpost [listname] [itemnumber]

where item number "itemnumber" will be given as part of search results for keywords in these respective messages.

For a full description of LISTSERV search functions, including information on how to retrieve search results, send an "info database" command.

Obtain detailed archive search and retrieval information info database
Send multiple commands at once

e.g.,

set [listname] repro noack

get [listname] log9706a log9706b

getpost [listname] [ref1] [ref2] [ref3]

(Or send multiple lines of commands in a single message, e.g.:)

set [listname] repro
set [listname] noack
review [listname]
index [listname]

get [filename] log9706a
get [filename] log9706b
get [filename] log9706c

Obtain a detailed list of LISTSERV user commands info refcard
Obtain a list of basic commands

help

(Or to obtain a list of available "info" topics:)

info

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