How-to

Send commands to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu

All commands that affect list membership -- such as joining a list, signing off from a list, checking the list's membership -- must be sent to LISTSERV and not to the mailing list itself. Unless otherwise specified, all commands listed below must be sent to the listserv@listserv.ksu.edu address. So remember: Commands get sent to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu, and message postings get sent to your list's address (listID@ksu.edu).

1. Start your e-mail program.
2. Address a mail message to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu. Don't put anything else in the mail header.
3. In the message text, type the commands you want to use (see below). You may put as many commands as you want in the message, as long as each command is on a separate line.
4. Erase any signature lines and/or turn off auto-inclusion of your signature file. (LISTSERV treats signature lines as commands and will send error messages saying "unknown command".)

Parts of the command line

listname = your list's ID (3-15 characters)
userid@address = a person's e-mail address
Firstname Lastname = a person's actual name
options = a person's mail choices such as REPRO, NOMAIL, DIGEST

Example of message with commands sent to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu

     To      : listserv@listserv.ksu.edu
     From    : editor@ksu.edu
     Cc      :
     Attchmnt:
     Subject :
     ----- Message Text -------------------------------------
     SUB     news-l   Eisenstein Editor
     GET     news-l   LOG9802
     QUERY *
     UNSUB   cns-d
     REVIEW  ktech-l

Find a K-State list to join

Send a message to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu containing this command:

           LIST

LISTSERV will send a message with all the public lists at K-State that anyone may join, as well as any private lists to which you're already subscribed. To join/subscribe to a K-State list, follow the instructions further below.

Find lists at other places

The easiest way to find other public lists in the world is to search CataList, the catalog of LISTSERV lists maintained at L-Soft's web site. You can go directly to the List Search page and type in the topic(s) you're looking for. For details on finding lists about very narrow topics, refer to "How to locate interesting lists" section in the General User's Guide from L-Soft.

Subscribe to a K-State list

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

           SUB listname Your Name

where "listname" is the list's ID and "Your Name" is your real name.
Example:   SUB   HIST251B   Jane Doe


You don't have to give your e-mail address, because the LISTSERV software will get it off the "From" line in the e-mail header. LISTSERV will generally send a message asking you to confirm your subscription request, and will then send a notification/welcome message when you've been added to a list. Note that you can subscribe to any open lists on your own. If you try to subscribe to a closed list or to one that has limited subscription, LISTSERV will send a notice with further information.

Subscribe to a list elsewhere

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

           SUB listname Your Name

where "listname" is the list's ID and "Your Name" is your real name.
Example:   SUB   WEBTALK   Jane Doe


You don't have to give your e-mail address, because the LISTSERV software will get it off the "From" line in the e-mail header. LISTSERV will generally send a message asking you to confirm your subscription request, and will then send a notification/welcome message when you've been added to a list.

K-State's LISTSERV system will usually know of the list that you want to join (even if it's not a K-State list) and will attempt to forward your subscription message to the nearest LISTSERV site for processing. If you know the address of the list you want to join, then you can send a subscribe command directly to LISTSERV at that address -- for example, listserv@section.somewhere.edu.

Note that you can subscribe to any open lists on your own. If you try to subscribe to a closed list or to one that has limited subscription, LISTSERV will send a notice with further information.

Send a message to the list you've joined

Send e-mail to the address of the list you've joined. K-State mailing lists have the list's ID followed by @ksu.edu; an example is hist251b@ksu.edu. Lists elsewhere will have a format somewhat similar to listname@section.somewhere.edu.

Unsubscribe from a K-State list

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

           UNSUB listname

where "listname" is the list's ID. Example:   UNSUB   HIST251B
When you sign off from a list, LISTSERV will send a notification message that you've been removed.

Unsubscribe from a non-K-State list

Send e-mail to the LISTSERV at the system address of the list you want to leave. For example, if you belong to a list with a system address of @somewhere.edu, then you would send e-mail to listserv@somewhere.edu with this command format in the message:

           UNSUB listname

where "listname" is the list's ID. Example:   UNSUB   WEBTALK
When you sign off from a list, LISTSERV will send a notification message that you've been removed.

Change your name on the list

Sometimes you may discover that although your e-mail address is OK, your name isn't correct. This can be caused by several things, such as someone adding you to a list and typing your name wrong. To fix it, log on to the computer system where you send mail from and send mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

     REGISTER yourname

where "yourname" is the name you want associated with your e-mail address. LISTSERV may ask for confirmation that you really want to change it, and then will make the change. It will make the change on all the mailing lists you subscribe to as well as your other incoming e-mail.

Change your address on the list

You'll actually be unsubscribing from your old address and then subscribing again from your new address. First, log on to the computer system where you were sending e-mail and send mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

     UNSUB listname

where "listname" is the list's ID. Example: UNSUB  HIST251B
Then log on to the new system or network that you want to use and send a subscription command from that address to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with the usual subscribe format:

     SUB listname

If you can't log on to your old e-mail account and send mail from there, you'll have to notify the list owner to remove you from the list. If you don't remember the name of the list owner or his/her address, you can send e-mail to listname-REQUEST@ksu.edu, where "listname" is the list ID of the list that you want to leave. Example: HIST251B-REQUEST@ksu.edu

Check your mail-delivery settings

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu using either of the following command formats in the message:

     QUERY listname
     QUERY  *

where "listname" is the list's ID.
The first command checks your mail settings on a specific list.
The latter checks all the lists to which you belong.

Set your mail-delivery options

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu using any of the following command formats in the message:

     SET listname NOMAIL
     SET listname DIGEST
     SET listname CONCEAL
     SET listname REPRO
     SET listname TOPICS: topics

where "listname" is the list's ID. Example: UNSUB  HIST251B
Standard options available include MAIL/NOMAIL, DIGEST/NODIGEST, ACK/NOACK, CONCEAL/NOCONCEAL, REPRO/NOREPRO. For a complete list of options, see the section "Options that may be set" in the online General User's Guide to LISTSERV.

Get the membership list

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

     REVIEW listname

where "listname" is the list's ID. Example:   REVIEW   HIST251B

Get a month's log of correspondence

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

     GET listname LOGyymm

where "listname" is the list's ID and "yymm" is the 4-digit number for the year and month.
Example:   GET   HIST251B   LOG9801

Get a summary of the K-State lists you belong to

Send e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with this command format in the message:

     QUERY  *

This can also show all the K-State lists you own if you're subscribed to the lists you own.

Members who want a copy of their own messages to the list

New list members may be concerned about not receiving incoming copies of messages they sent to the list, and wonder if their message was delivered. K-State's lists are usually set up to spare the member from getting an incoming, duplicate copy, since most e-mail programs store outgoing messages in a "sent-mail" or "outmail" mailbox. Rest assured that your messages are indeed being posted, and that K-State's mailer system will notify you if delivery problems occur.

Members who really want to receive their message again, along with all the other messages, can set that option for themselves by sending e-mail to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu with the following command:

where "listname" is the name of the list. A copy of the postings will be sent to them each time they send a message to the list.

If all the list members want this feature, ask the list owner to add a "repro" option for the entire membership.

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Kansas State University
January 7, 2001