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1995-04-07
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Using the Mailing-List Robot
============================
Creating a mailing-list
-----------------------
After you have installed MailList on your <host> you may want to create a
mailing-list.
1. Choose a name <listname> for the mailing-list. The length of the name is
restricted by the filing system. However, it is possible to define a
longer listname than the filing system would allow. See below for more
details.
2. Send the request CREATE <listname> to MailList. The request must be sent
from your root-account. Otherwise, MailList will refuse to process your
request.
3. MailList will process the request and send a confirmation to root@<host>
and <listname>@<host>
4. Next you should define the list-owner. From your root-account send the
request: OWNER <listname> <list-owner>
Here <list-owner> must be the *FULL* RFC-822 address of the person who
will be maintaining the list. Even if this person is on the same <host>
you MUST include the domain-part (<host>) of the Internet address.
Usually this could be you.
5. MailList will send the <list-owner> instructions to finish the
mailing-list installation. Typically this will be defining the list's
configuration and Charter. And announcing the existance of the list
through the usual channels.
Configuring a mailing-list
--------------------------
When the mailing-list has been created as described above the <list-owner>
can finish the configuration of the mailing-list.
1. Define the list's Charter. This is a description of the purpose of the
list. Who it is intended for and things like that. To define the Charter
the <list-owner> sends the request: CHARTER <listname>
In this case the body of the message is assumed to contain the Charter.
MailList will strip the message-header and any signature from the message
and store the rest of the message as the list's Charter. Note, however,
that MailList can only remove the signature if it is USEnet compliant.
I.e. '-- ' at the start of the first line of the signature.
2. Define the list's options (Request: DEFINE <list> <option>):
DIGEST or NODIGEST
Default: NODIGEST
By default messages processed by the list are redistributed
individually to the subscribers. When DIGEST is set messages
are gathered and put in a single file called a digest. When
the digest becomes bigger than 90kB or grows older than 7
days the file is sent to the subscribers. This is especially
useful when NEWSFEED is configured.
MAILFEED or NEWSFEED <group>
Default: MAILFEED
By default messages sent to <listname>@<host> are
redistributed to the subscribers. It is possible to
distribute a USEnet newsgroup *instead of* messages from
subscribers. NEWSFEED <group> will distribute the newsgroup
<group> (eg. comp.sys.acorn) to the subscribers. When
NEWSFEED is configured messages sent to the list are not
processed.
MODERATOR or NOMODERATOR
Default: NOMODERATOR
By default messages sent to <listname>@<host> are
redistributed to the subscribers automatically. You may find
that some lists are prone to very low Signal/Noise
ratios. I.e. Lots of noise and little interesting articles.
To keep the noise down (or for some other reason) you may
want to define the list as a moderated list. When the list
is defined MODERATOR all articles sent to it are first sent
to the ListOwner. The ListOwner can then read the article
first. If he judges that the article is not fit for
distribution he does nothing. To tell the MailList Robot
that the article may be distributed to the subscribers the
ListOwner can use the request: APPROVE <list> <#>. Where
<list> is the name of the mailing-list and <#> is the
article number given by the robot.
3. Announce the existence of the list through the appropriate channels.
Among others the <list-owner> should at least announce the list via
the BITNET mailing-list NEW-LIST. Send e-mail to
LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU
for more information. In the body of the message put:
GET NEW-LIST README (case-sensitive!!)
GET NEW-LIST CREATE
GET NEW-LIST FORMAT
Alternatively you can download these files from the Mail-Server at the
'Home of the MailList Robot'. Send the request SEND INDEX to
'maillist@cray-3.xs4all.nl' to find out where they are stored.
4. Long Listnames
MailList supports listnames that are longer that the Filing System
allows. This is achieved by truncating the listname to the supported
length. To fool subscribers the request LISTS can be made to return the
long listname instead of the truncated name. This is achieved by setting
the RL Name in !TTFN. Doing this will create a file 'RLN' in the
mailing-lists UserHome directory. !MailList accesses this file by trying
to read the <UserHome$Dir>.<listname>.RLN. If it exists ONLY the first
line in this file will be included in the response.
5. Using the above (4) method you can also choose to define a short
description of the list. Using !TTFN define the RL Name; enter the
listname and a short description; click on "Set". LISTS will return the
first line of the RLN file (if it exists) instead of the listname.
NOTE: This feature has the added advantage (?) that you can hide the
existance of a mailing-list to the outside world by setting an
empty RLN.
6. MOTD & MF1D
A MOTD (Messages Of The Day) can be included in every article sent out
for a given mailing-list. To do this create a file called MOTD in the
directory (!NewsDir.MailList.Lists.<listname>) of the list. In the file
you can define a message which you want to append to each distributed
article of the mailing-list. This can be a disclaimer or up-to-date
information or whatever.
The MOTD is appended to the end of a message or at the beginning of a
digest.
Sometimes you want to distribute a message only once. So distributing it
with the next article is enough. For this purpose is the MF1D (Message
For 1 Day) which is appended like the MOTD to the next article being
distributed for the mailing-list. However, once the MF1D has been
appended to an article it is deleted. To use this create a file called
MF1D in the forementioned directory.
*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*
There is an FAQ about Acorn-related mailing-lists which is posted
regularly to comp.sys.acorn.announce. This FAQ can be retrieved from the
forementioned MailServer by sending the request SEND FAQ.AcornLists
If your mailing-list is Acorn-related you might like to have it added to
the FAQ. Just send me a message at <mhe@cray-3.xs4all.nl> and let me know:
* name & charter of the mailing-list
* subscription information
*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*