Contents.

1. "Not Authorized" error message
2. Passwords for Several Lists
3. Cannot Find List
4. Removal From List
5. Finding/Contacting LISTSERV Owners
6. Transfer Ownership of List
7. Assume Ownership of List
8a. How does one remove subscription
8b. Remove Subscriptions from a List in bulk
9a. How do I add a subscribers to a list?
9b. Adding a Batch of Subscribers
10. Invalid Characters
11. Cookie Removal
12. Further Questions
 

Q: When attempting to post to a list to which you belong, you receive an error message that says you are not authorized to post to the list.

A: The list is a “private” list, which means messages posted to the list must be sent from a subscriber’s address. Sometimes people subscribe to a LISTSERV® with an address that is forwarded to another address. For example, you may be subscribed with your user@comast.net address, which you have since forwarded to an user@aol.com address. If you try to post from the user@aol.com address, LISTSERV will not recognize it as a valid subscriber address.

To fix the problem, you must either post from your original subscriber address or change your LISTSERV subscription address to match your sending address. To do this, send an e-mail from your original subscription address (i.e. user@comcast.net) to LISTSERV@TR.WOU.EDU. In the body of the message, type:

CHANGE listname ADDR (substitute the name of the list for “listname” and your sending address for “addr”).

Or, you can send an e-mail directly to the list owner (listname-REQUEST@TR.WOU.EDU) and have the list owner make the change for you.

Q: Do people who own several lists need a password for each list?

A: LISTSERV passwords are associated with e-mail addresses, not individual lists. Most owners can manage all of their lists with one address/one password.

Q: When logging onto the LISTSERV management page, you do not find the list for which you are listed as an owner.

A: Your owner e-mail address and your LISTSERV login e-mail address must match. When you log onto list management, use your owner address. If the list you are looking for does not appear in the drop-down box, or the drop-down box is empty, it usually means that when you created the list, you specified an owner address that differs slightly from the address you currently use. For example, if you created the list with your @comcast.net e-mail address, and now your LISTSERV login is @aol.com, LISTSERV will not recognize you as a valid owner and will not give you access to the list. To change your owner address to match your login address, send an e-mail to the LISTSERV Administrator and explain the situation. Or, if you have a password for your prior owner address, you can use that to log onto LISTSERV and change the owner to your current e-mail address.

Note: An empty drop-down box means that LISTSERV does not recognize you as a LISTSERV owner. LISTSERV will allow you to type in a list name, but it will not recognize you as owner unless the conditions noted above are met.

Q: How do people remove themselves from a LISTSERV list?

A: Send an e-mail to LISTSERV@TR.WOU.EDU and in the body of the message type: UNSUBSCRIBE listname.

Q: How do people find out the name of the owner of a LISTSERV list so that they may contact him or her? 

A: You do not need to know the owner’s name or e-mail address in order to contact him or her. To contact a list owner, send an e-mail to listname-REQUEST@TR.WOU.EDU (i.e. to reach the owner of the deafblnd list, send an e-mail to DEAFBLND-REQUEST@TR.WOU.EDU).

Q: How does one transfer the ownership of a list to someone else?

A: List ownership is specified in the list configuration file, often referred to as the list header. If you are the current owner, you can edit this file and replace your owner address with that of a new owner. Make sure the new owner understands the responsibilities of list ownership and that you have the correct e-mail address for this person.

Here are the steps:

• Log onto the list management Web page and access your list.
• Click the “Configuration” button. A text box will pop up, which you can edit.
• Find the line in the text box that reads: “Owner=...”. The line is usually located near the bottom of the box. Locate the listing with your name, e-mail address, and phone number. Replace your information with the corresponding information of the new owner, using exactly the same spacing and format. Click the “Update” button below. A message will confirm that the list configuration has been updated.

A list can have multiple owners. If you want to remain an owner and wish to add owner(s), add a new “Owner=”line to the configuration and type in the new owner’s name, e-mail address, and phone number.  A new “Owner=” line must be created for each new owner.

Q: The owner of my list has left and I need to take over list ownership duties. How do I do that?

A: Only the currently designated owner (and list manager) can transfer ownership to you. If the owner is no longer available to perform this task, e-mail the LISTSERV Admistrator to request that the list ownership be transferred to you. We will contact the currently listed owner(s) for verification.

Q. How does one remove subscriptions?

• Send the following in the body of an email to LISTSERV@TR.WOU.EDU
  delete listname user@host.com [replace "listname" with the name of your list] example: delete football-l johnsmith@domain.com
  You must send this from your email address listed as the owner of your list.
  To delete an address without sending them notification use the Quiet delimiter
  Example: quiet delete football-l johnsmith@domain.com

Q. How does one remove old subscriptions in bulk?

LISTSERV has bulk add and delete import functions that make it relatively easy to clear out all of the old subscriptions and re-populate the list with new ones.

Here are the steps:

• Log onto the LISTSERV management page.
• Choose the list that you want to re-populate and click “Bulk Ops”.
• Click the second option below the “Input file” box labeled, “Remove all subscribers from <listname>, then add the imported addresses (to remove all subscribers, select this option and omit the input file).”
• Click the “Import” button. All subscriptions will be deleted from the list. You can verify this by requesting a review of the list. Note: your own subscription will also be deleted; you will need to re-subscribe to your list.

Q: How do I add a subscribers to a list?

• Send the following in the body of an email to LISTSERV@TR.WOU.EDU
  add listname user@host.com firstname lastname [replace "listname" with the name of your list] example: add football-l jsmith@domain.com John Smith
  You must send this from your email address listed as the owner of your list.
  To add an address without sending them notification use the Quiet delimiter
  Example: quiet add football-l jsmith@domain.com John Smith
• You can add multiple addresses in one email, as long as each one is on a separate line

Q: How do I add a batch of subscribers all at once instead of doing them one at a time?

A: LISTSERV has bulk add and delete import functions that make it relatively easy to populate a list with a large number of subscribers.

Here are the steps:

• Prepare an import file in plain text. The file must contain the e-mail address, and the first and last names of each subscriber. Each entry must be on a separate line. Use one or more spaces between each of the data elements. Do not use tabs or commas between fields.
• The entries MUST be in one of the following formats (brackets required in first instance)
  firstname lastname <username@domain.com>
  username@domain.com firstname lastname
• Log onto the LISTSERV management page.
• Choose the list that you want to populate and click “Bulk Ops”.
• Click on “Browse” to the right of the “Input file” box and select the plain text file that you created, which contains the subscriber list.
• Click the first option below the Input file box labeled “Add the imported addresses to <listname>; do not remove any subscribers.”
• Click the “Import” button.

Note: LISTSERV does not send notification to the subscribers when you use Bulk Op. If you want to replace all of your old subscriptions with the new ones, select the second option below the Input file box called “Remove all subscribers from <yourlist>, then add the imported addresses (to remove all subscribers, select this option and omit the input file). Then click the “Import” button as before.

Q: I submitted a request for a new list and LISTSERV Administrator rejected the request because the list name contained an invalid character. What characters should be avoided in list names?

A: LISTSERV names may only include the 26 letters in the alphabet, the numerals zero (0) to nine (9), the underscore_ and the hyphen -. Spaces are not allowed. In addition, LISTSERV is not case sensitive and will not preserve a combination of upper and lower case in a list name. LISTSERV converts all lower case characters to upper case when sending e-mail to the subscribers.

Q: I set up a cookie so that LISTSERV remembers my owner address and password when I log onto the list management page. How do I remove the cookie?

A: To remove your LISTSERV login cookie, enter the following URL in your Web browser:

http://www.tr.wou.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?RESET-COOKIE

Note: the lowercase/uppercase parts must be entered as is.

This will execute the RESET-COOKIE command from within your browser and will remove the cookie. A message will inform you that the command has been executed. The next time you log onto LISTSERV, you will be asked to enter your owner e-mail address and LISTSERV password. A message box will ask if you want to set up a cookie. You can ignore the message or reset the cookie.

Q. Who do I contact if I have further questions regarding LISTSERV?

Robbin Bull LISTSERV Administrator.