This is a supplement to the Owner's Manual for mail-list.com.  It contains advanced instructions for operating your discussion group mailing list.

Table of Contents:

  Public Addresses:

   Subscriber Off

   Readonly

   Postonly

   Multiple Moderators

   Email Archives

   Web Based Archives

   Reports   

   Clickable Links

   Auto-responders at mail-list.com

   Frequently Asked Questions

There are three rarely used options when processing unsubscribe requests from a subscriber.  If you want to invoke either of these options, please contact sales@mail-list.com.

The Double Opt-Out option sends back a confirmation reply message, with a random number in the Subject line.  The subscriber then needs to either reply to the email, or click on the URL in the body of the message to complete the subscription process.

The Approve Each Unsubscribe option forwards the Unsubscribe request to the list moderators for approval.  When the list moderator replies to this Simon-Sez command, the process is completed and the Goodbye message is sent to the ex-subscriber.

The Divertcheck option is automatically on, and unsubscribes any short message posted to the list, that looks like an unsubscribe request. That is, if your subscribers send a message to the list asking to get off, our machine will unsubscribe the person.  If this option is causing you problems, please ask us to turn it off.

The Read Only option allows you to place subscribers in a special status, where they receive all messages posted, but cannot post a message without your approval.

This option is useful if your list allows messages to be posted without list moderator intervention.  This option allows you to control messages of selected subscribers.

You put existing subscribers into the ReadOnly mode by sending in an addreadonly command.  You remove them from ReadOnly status by sending in a delreadonly command. See the section on List Administration in the Advanced Owner's manual.

In addition, you can have all new subscribers automatically put into ReadOnly status.

Find this option on the web page at http://db.mail-list.com/list_search.html

  Automatically Put New Subscribers Into Approve Each Message Status:
     Yes
     No

If you choose Yes on the above option, a corresponding option is immediately below.

  Remove Subscriber From Approve Each Message Status Upon First Approval:
     Yes
     No

Choosing Yes to this option will automatically take the subscriber out of ReadOnly status the first time you approve a message of theirs.  This is designed to easily control new subscribers in case they are inclined to send spam or other junk.  If they post a message that you approve, then they are removed from probabtion.

You have the option of designating certain email addresses to have the ability to post a message, but not actually be on the distribution list.  That is, these email addresses will not receive any messages to the list, although they have the ability to post a message.

You put existing subscribers into the PostOnly mode by sending in an addpostonly command.  You remove them from PostOnly status by sending in a delpostonly command. See the section on List Administration in the Advanced Owner's manual.

This option is only useful if your list is set up to Allow All Messages to be Posted.

If you list is Approve Each Message Posted, then there is no need for this option, since our machine will accept messages from anybody, and forward them to the list moderators for approval.

A listowner controls the list, and a moderator is another person, if any, the owner has given permission to control the list also.  If the owner does not pick a moderator, then they are the listowner/moderator all in one.  Some mailing lists have a primary and a backup moderator. The backup moderator only assumes responsibility at the request of the primary moderator, and is otherwise not involved in the day to day administration of the list.

Other mailing lists have co-moderators, where any moderator can take action (such as approving a new subscriber), and the first moderator to send in the email message completes the task.

If your mailing list wants to adapt a co-moderator strategy, mail-list.com has an optional feature that will allow the moderators to be informed of each other actions.

This feature will send all the moderators a copy of the Simon-sez command when a new subscriber requests to be on your list.

The first moderator to reply to the message, will subscribe the person, and all moderators will get a copy of the audit trail showing the action completed.

In addition, the audit trail for commands when a moderator unsubscribed a list member will also be sent to all moderators.

Find this option on the web page at http://db.mail-list.com/list_search.html

  Use List-Owner Email Address:
     Yes
     No   

Email Archives

There is a simple email based archival system. Each message that is posted to the list, is saved in the mailing listarchives.  These archives are not designed for access via the public. These commands are made available so that you, the list owner, can determine if an message was sent, or retrieve an old message, should the need arise.

These email archives only keep the message for 30 days before it is deleted.

Any email to your yourlist-request address, with the word ARCHIVE in the subject line, will have the body of that message scanned for commands to execute.  Many commands can be sent in one message, one command per line in the body of the message.

To see the listing of available messages, use this address and message:

   To: yourlist-request@mail-list.com
   From: your_email@address.com
   Subject: archive

   list latest
   list volume02

The directory name (latest, volume02, etc) depends on the type of list. --
The email returned to you will look something like this:

   ls -l ls volume02
BEGIN---------------cut here------------------ total 22

 -rw-rw----   1 discuss discuss     4396 Apr 20 19:08 1
 -rw-rw----   1 discuss discuss     8679 May  2 22:01 2
 -rw-rw----   1 discuss discuss     7568 May 19 21:41 3
 -rw-rw----   1 discuss discuss     9274 May 21 06:31 4

   END-----------------cut here------------------

The important information is way at the end (right) of each line.

The number 1, 2, 3 and 4 in this example, are the names of the files. In this example, there have been four messages posted to the list. The messages are named in numerical sequence.

To retrieve a file(s), use the command get

   To: yourlist-request@mail-list.com
   From: your_email@address.com
   Subject: archive

      get volume02/3
      get volume02/4

The email archive server knows the following commands

   get file ...
   list directory ...
   egrep case_insensitive_regular_expression file ...
   maxfiles nnn
   help

Web Email Archives

Web Email Archives is an optional item that allows all messages posted to your list to be viewed via a World Wide Web browser, such as Netscape, Microsoft Explorer or Opera.

Messages are not deleted without explicit permission from you, the list owner.  This archive is separate from the email based archive system, which is deleted after 30 days.

Each message that is posted to the list is saved in the Web Email Archives.  This happens while the message is being delivered to the list subscribers.

Your archives are at URL:

   http://archive.mail-list.com/yourlist

assuming that you have chosen this optional feature on the web page at http://db.mail-list.com .

That web page address can be password protected, and you can change that password on our web page.

The archives have both a chronological and thread index to all of the messages posted to your list.

You can get reports back on various aspects of your list at any time. The showcount command will return the number of current subscribers, in addition to the number of additions and deletions from your list. The showsub, showunsub, and showbounce commands will return the corresponding details of new subscribers, recent unsubscribes, and addresses removed for bounces.  The showdomain command will return a report showing the distribution of your list across domain names and countries.  And the showlist command will return your entire list to you.

In addition, mail-list.com can automatically send you these same reports. These reports will be sent either daily or weekly, your choice.  It is sent at the same time of day, each time. The exact time of day sent is random for each list, to spread out the system load.

This system generated report will also clean out the logs of subscribers, unsubscribers, and bounces.  These are the audit trail logs of your system activity.  The showcount command uses these files to count the number of new subscribers, unsubscribers, and bounces.

Please visit http://db.mail-list.com to make any adjustments on the automatic report delivery.

When you put URL's into the messages you send out to your list, for example:

   http://www.mail-list.com
   mailto:your_email@address.com

Most email readers will display those addresses in color, and become operational when the person clicks or double clicks on the URL.

AOL has the same sort of feature, but needs a different syntax to make it work.  For the clickable feature to work with AOL, you need to have a true HTML web page syntax, for example: <A HREF="http://www.mail-list.com">http://www.mail-list.com</A>;

mail-list.com has a feature that will automatically convert the plain URL to the HTML web page format that AOL needs.  We also enable this feature for your subscribers at cs.com.

mail-list.com will automatically convert all URL's that start with

 http://             Web Page Address
 https://            Secure Web Page Address
 ftp://              FTP server for files
 mailto:             Email address

to the correct full HTML web page syntax for all of your AOL subscribers.  That means that the links will work when they click on them.

To activate this automatic feature, you will need to leave a blank space, tab or carriage return on both sides of the link.  For example:

   Please see our page at (http://www.mail-list.com) **WRONG
   Please see our page at http://www.mail-list.com **CORRECT

Therefore, you can put a plain URL in the body of your message, and it will be clickable for both AOL subscribers, and almost every other subscribers.

Auto-responders at mail-list.com

An auto-responder is a special email address that returns an email when it receives an email.  mail-list.com has several special auto-responders to help you operate your mailing list.

If you send an email to one of the auto-responders below, it will send you back the result.

   format at mail-list.com - Returns the contents of the body of your message, after performing several formatting functions. This auto-responder will insert carriage returns after 70 characters, convert quoted-printable encoded characters to plain ascii, and change non-ascii characters to blanks.

   autoformat at mail-list.com - Also returns the contents of the body of your message, using a different program to format your message.

   antiword at mail-list.com - Returns the contents of the Microsoft Word document that was attached. To use, send a blank message with the MS Word document attached. This document must end with a .DOC suffix.

   fancy@mail-list.com - Returns an example of a message formatted in the fancy or multipart style. Not all email readers can decipher a fancy format. Use this auto-responder to see if your email reader will work. And tell your subscribers to test their email reader, before using the yourlist-switch@mail-list.com
command.

   showmx at mail-list.com - Returns the data associated with the MX record for the domain name of the email address. Uses nslookup to query the Domain Name System (DNS).

   htmltext at mail-list.com - Returns the simple plain contents of the body of your message, after removing MIME and HTML markup commands. Tries three (3) different methods, and returns seperate results.

   spam-score at mail-list.com - Returns the score that SpamAssassin assigns to your email. Some ISP's use SpamAssassin to filter their customer's email. In order to avoid their spam filters you should try and keep the SpamAssasin score as low as possible.

*Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  What happens when a subscriber cancels their email account, and messages can no longer be delivered.

A:  Their email will "bounce" when it cannot be delivered, meaning, it comes back to the machine that sent it. The bounced email will be scanned by our computers for the offending email address. If an address bounces too many times, it is automatically removed from the list. You can control the number of bounces at the web page.

Q:  What happens when an unknown person tries to post to my list ?

A:  All incoming messages are verified against your list of approved subscribers. Messages from unknown addresses will have a rejection message returned, that also contains instructions on how to get on your list.

Q:  How long does it take to deliver a message ?

A:  It depends. Usually, within an hour, your message will be delivered to most everybody on your list. Those individuals whose mail machine is temporarily off the Internet, will have repeated attempts made over the next 3 days. If the message is still undeliverable, that message counts as a bounce.

Q:  One of my subscribers says he is getting the messages, but his posts are rejected.

A:  This can happen when the subscriber is receiving email at one address, and posting from another address. The From: address must match the address on the list exactly.

   For instance, if Joe signs up as joe@abc.com, and later changes his email address to joe@mail.abc.com, then his posts will be rejected.

Q:  Can somebody be on both parts of the list at the same time ? Even with the same email address ?

A:  Yes, you can have one or more email addresses on both lists. Since the yourlist-switch@mail-list.com address will simply move an email address from one list to the other, you will need to send a moderator command to the list. For instance

    From: your_email@address.com
    To: yourlist-d-moderator@mail-list.com
    Subject: open_sesame

    subscribe joe@domain.com

   Will directly add joe to the digest list.

  Pro Tips !

Thanks for reading the entire manual.  Mailing lists are slightly more complex than they first appear.  Here are some tips that you will want to use to make your mailing list run smoothly.   Always Cut and Paste, never retype information on your computer.

     Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers all have the ability
     to cut or copy some text to system clipboard, and then paste
     that same exact text into some other window on the screen. 
     You can cut and paste between applications, as the clipboard
     is part of the operating system.

     Even if it takes you longer to find the text and copy it, you
     will be assured of having the correct information, and you
     will not have to re-do something because you mis-typed.

 b)  Save a working version of each type of message you send to
     mail-list.com.  The moderator commands and posting a message
     are the two most common.

     For example, save a copy of the moderator message, with the
     correct password in the Subject line, and an example line of
     each type of command you use. Probably both an subscribe and
     unsubscribe line.  One to show you the entire list, etc.  Then
     put this in a special mailbox or folder.

     When you need to make another change, simply find your saved
     message, and resend it.  Make the appropriate modifications
     prior to actually sending it. Delete the lines containing
     commands you do not need this time.  Change the email
     addresses for the subscribe/unsubscribes.

 c)  When sending out announcements to your list, format your message
     for lousy email readers, and the lowest common denominator.

     Send your announcement to the auto-responder

             format at mail-list.com

     The computer will remove non-ascii text, replacing them with
     blanks.  It will convert quoted-printable (=20 type stuff),
     with ascii characters, and it will format each line to
     approximately 70 characters.

     When your message comes back, proof-read and copy and paste
     into a template that you have saved for sending out messages.

     These extra steps will insure that your message looks the same
     everywhere, and is formatted to handle the worst conditions.

--

This Really Advanced Owners Manual provides really advanced commands and other information for full control of your list.

Thanks for using mail-list.com !   copyright 1995-2008