Note: This guide is intended for use by students, faculty and staff of The University of Kansas. The examples and explanations given may not apply to others using lists housed elsewhere. ListProc lists are not the only type of lists at KU. Exchange distrubtion lists are also available. To help you decide which is best for you, go to Email Discussion Lists to get a comparison of the two types of lists.
Email discussion lists, also known as listservs, or discussion groups, refer to a collection of email addresses that are used in a manner similar to that of postal addresses for a postal mailing list. An email discussion list has a name and an email address. For example, BEETALK might be the name of discussion list for those interested in bees and its address would be beetalk@ku.edu. To send a message to everyone on the list, only a single message need be sent to the list's address. The message is received by the list processor which then distributes it to all list members (hundreds of people in some cases). In turn, as a member of a list, you receive copies of messages sent to the list by others.
People whose email addresses are on the list are referred to as subscribers.
Information about subscribing is available on the List
participation info page of this site. A discussion list can range in size
from just a few people to several thousand. Similarly, the number of email messages
exchanged among participants can range from a little as one per month (or even
per year) to hundreds per day. More information about the various types
of lists is available below.
Thousands of discussion lists exist around the world in many languages, on
virtually every topic imaginable. Lists often develop their own culture. That
is, they have an expected mode of behaviour such as a certain method of stating
the subject of one's message to the group or a certain shorthand for often-used
terms. Generally accepted behavioral email norms are known as "netiquette."
Every email discussion list has one or more owners, who are responsible for the smooth functioning of the list. At KU, all list owners are volunteers. See Manage an email discussion list at KU for more information about owning lists.
Email discussion lists have three important email addresses:
It is very important that all list participants and list owners understand the nature of these addresses and when to use them. See further explanations below.
The first, the address of the list processor, is known as the administrative address and is used for sending commands to ListProc. At KU the administrative address is listproc@ku.edu. Commands are used by subscribers for altering some aspect of their method of participation on the list/group and by list owners to alter some aspect of the list's configuration. For example, a list participant uses the administrative address to send commands to subscribe and unsubscribe, as well as set subscriptions to digest mode or to postpone, or check current subscription settings. Additional information about subscriber commands and subscription options is available on the List participation info page. Examples of commands used by list owners are on the List management info page.
The second important email address is that of the discussion list itself. Messages sent to the list's address are distributed to all list subscribers. In the example above beetalk@ku.edu is the email address of the discussion list. Some discussion list names end in -L (dash, letter L) to help people distinguish the email address as one belonging to a list and therefore one that could potentially distribute a message to hundreds of people. It is imperative that you understand the distinction between the administrative address and the list address. It is considered poor "netiquette" to send commands to the list address (and thus to all list members).
Every discussion list has one or more owners. Their email addresses are provided in the welcome message sent to all list subscribers at the time they join. The owners are responsible for keeping the list functioning smoothly and should be contacted if there are any problems, such as inappropriate behaviour by list participants, strange list behaviour such as missing messages or duplicate messages, or problems with subscribing and unsubscribing.
Email discussion lists at KU are processed by a program called ListProc (short for ListProcessor). Other popular list processing programs include LISTSERV and Majordomo. Discussion lists are a free service provided by Information Technology (IT), a division of Information Services, in conjuction with the volunteer assistance of the list owners. See Manage an email discussion list at KU for addtional information about who can establish and own a discussion list and how to do that. Currently KU serves over 1100 lists. The staff member at IT who supports ListProc is Bill Loats.
Lists can be set up to have many features. The features of the list depend in large part upon the purpose of the list and the time commitment the owner puts toward the list. Many list configuration features can be divided into two broad categories, those that determine the way people join (subscribe) and those that determine the options for posting (sending messages). Many of the features are not mutually exclusive. That is, a list may be both moderated and private, for example. List owners should refer to Common commands for list owners for information on adjusting their list configuration settings to create the type of list desired.
A list that allows anyone to join is known as an open, or public, list. On an open list, anyone who sends a subscribe message for a list is automatically added to the list. This has the advantage that it doesn't require any work for the list owner. The disadvantage is that the list owner loses control over who can participate the list's discussions and leaves the list open to potential spammers.
A private list is one in which the owner controls who may subscribe. Subscribe command sent to ListProc are forwarded to the list owner for approval. Such lists usually have a very specific focus and are not open to the general public. For example, a committee at the university may establish a list specifically to facilitate communication among its members. Another reason for creating a private list may be to limit participants to those who really belong on the list. Potential subscribers may be asked to provide information about themselves and their experience with the topic before being allowed to subscribe.
A closed list does not accept any subscription requests. Attempts to subscribe to closed lists are returned to the sender with a message indicating that the list is not accepting subscribers. Lists that are created for a very specific purpose and that have a finite set of participants are often configured as closed lists.
Most lists allow anyone to post to the list. Anyone who knows the email address of a list can (attempt to) send a message to the list. That is, it is not always necessary to be subscribed to a list in order to send a message. Such lists are called open lists. If you post to a list without subscribing, your message should make clear that you are not a subscriber and all replies should be emailed to you privately (otherwise, since you are not a subscriber, you will not receive the replies). A closed list is one in which only those who are subscribed can submit messages to the list. A closed list reduces spamming because potential spammers must first go to the trouble of joining a list.
A moderated list is one in which all posts to the list are sent first to the list's moderator (usually the owner). The moderator approves or discards the messages. The moderator also has the option of editing a message before approving it. Approved messages are then forwarded on to the list. This helps to assure that the posts are germane to the list's purpose and reduces flame wars. This can, of course, represent quite a burden for list owners and also results in a delay before submitted messages are received by other list members. Moderation is usually done only for lists whose subject matter is of a personal/private nature or is such that flame wars are likely. Most lists are not moderated.
In this instance, messages are sent only by the owner to subscribers. There is no opportunity for subscribers to respond to posts or to post new messages of their own. Examples of lists of this type include word-of-the-day services, announcements, and newsletters. Messages are distributed to subscribers from a central source (usually the owner) rather than from the group of subscribers.
While friends and colleagues may be the best source for information about email discussion lists in your field or hobby interest area, the following Web sites allows keyword searching for lists:
When you find a list you would like to participate in, be sure to record the two necessary addresses for the lists that interest you: where to send your subscribe command (the administrative address) (such as listproc@ku.edu) and where to send messages intended for subscribers (such as beetalk@ku.edu). More information about participating on email discussion lists is available on the List participation info page.If you're having trouble managing or participating in a list housed at KU, please send email to listadm@ku.edu or call the Help Desk at 785/864-0200.
