Announcement List Template ReadMe

October 5, 1996

Copyright 1996, StarNine Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.

What is an announcement list?

An announcement list is a mailing list which many people subscribe to but only one or a few people can post messages to. This would typically be used for newsletters, product announcements, press releases, news alerts, or publications.

How do I use it?

Subscribe and unsubscribe requests are sent to the public address. This is also the address which appears in the From: field of messages sent out by the list. Commands accepted are subscribe, unsubscribe, and help. Once a month, subscribers will automatically receive the help message via e-mail. Mail sent to the public address by the moderators is ignored.

Each announcement list has it's own secret address. No one should ever see this address except for those authorized to post, it acts like a password. When you want to post, prepare the message like a normal e-mail message. In the To: field, put the publicly known address (the address people send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to). In the Bcc: field, put the secret address. An example outgoing message might look like:

Date: Sat, 5 Oct 96 10:23:05 -0400
Subject: Message to post
From: your-name@yourhost.com
To: your-list@yourhost.com
Bcc: list-secret-address@yourhost.com

The secret address checks to make sure the sending address is authorized (it's authorized if it's in the "Announcement Moderator Address" address list) before posting the message to the list. It also scans the RFC822 header and body of the message for the secret address, to insure that it is not posted by accident.

Installation...

To make a new announcement list, take the following steps:

If you haven't already, read about importing templates
Launch the ListSTAR Server
Choose "New Announcement List..." from the "Scripts" menu
At the prompt for the address and display name of "Announcement List", enter information for the public address mentioned above, which all subscribers will see and use.
At the prompt for the address and display name of "Announcement Secret Address", enter information for the secret address mentioned above, which only the moderators will see and use.
At the prompt for the moderator's email address, enter the address which should be authorized to post. This address is automatically entered into the "Announcement Moderator Address" address list if it doesn't already exist there.
At the prompt for the listmaster's email address, enter the address where mailer-daemon mail and error messages should be sent. This address is automatically entered into the "Listmaster Address" address list if it doesn't already exist there.
At this point ListSTAR will be busy for a few moments as it duplicates files and imports them into ListSTAR. If your Services window is open, you will see "Announcement List", "Announcement Secret Address", and "Announcement Timer" appear in alphabetical order. When this is finished, a dialog will appear reporting exactly how many services, address lists, and AppleScripts were created.
The new template is now created. You should rename the new services and address lists. In most cases, you can just replace "Announcement List" with "Your List Name" as appropriate. The names are not themselves important; it is just important that the names are unique and easily identifiable.

Requirements...

AppleScript, as well as the scriptable Finder. (An install of System 7.5 or later guarantees compatibility, although System 7 Pro may work as well.)
Version 1.1 of ListSTAR or later.

Support Issues...

Questions or problem reports for these services should be reported to liststar-talk@starnine.com