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Using Mailman to Manage Electronic Mailing List Subscriptions
Network & Technical Services
 Author: George W. Miller
February 28, 2005

What are electronic mailing lists?

The Office of Information Technology has implemented an electronic mailing list processor called Mailman. Mailing lists, also known as listservs or discussion groups, are a convenient way for a group of people to share information over e-mail without the need to know the addresses of the recipients. The list is stored on a central server, but is self-managed, that is, students, faculty and staff take the steps necessary for joining and leaving a list. Once you have joined a list, you may send a message to the list using an e-mail client, such as Eudora, Outlook or Drake web mail. When the Mailman server receives your message, it checks to make sure it fulfills the criteria established for the list and is then sent to each subscriber.

How do I find out what Mailman lists are available?

The Mailman listinfo web page is a spot where all public lists are named and described. This is a convenient spot if you are unsure of the exact name of a list. This page is located at:

 http://lists.drake.edu/mailman/listinfo

Click on the name of the list and you will be taken to its information page. From there you may subscribe, signoff, get a password reminder or modify your subscription options.

Once you know the name of the list, in the future, you may access the list's information page directly by going to: http://lists.drake.edu/mailman/listinfo/<listname>, where <listname>is the name of the list. For example, to go to the Healthychoice list, point your browser to:

http://lists.drake.edu/mailman/listinfo/healthychoice

Note: list information page names are always lowercase, even if the name of the list contains mixed or all uppercase letters.

What is the information on a Mailman list's web page?

Each list information page contains four sections, each customized for that list. For example, the Healthychoice page has the following sections and information:

About Healthychoice An optional, detailed description of the list's purpose and a link to the Healthychoice list archives.
Using Healthychoice A link that launches your e-mail client to post a message to the Healthychoice list.
Subscribing to Healthychoice The application for subscribing to Healthychoice. You must enter your e-mail address, a password (leave it blank and one will be generated for you) and digest preference.
Healthychoice Subscribers A field for signing off Healthychoice and a button that will take you to a page where you may edit your membership options.

How do I join a Mailman list?

To join an e-mail list, you must complete a brief web application on the list's information page. During this process, you will need to enter your e-mail address and a password for protecting your Mailman settings. Click subscribe and the Mailman server will send a request for confirmation to the e-mail address you give. You may confirm the subscription by replying to the e-mail or by clicking on web link given in the body of the message and then following the directions that appear. You will receive a return e-mail message with additional information about your subscription.

How do I post to a Mailman list?

You may post to a list only if you are a list member. This may be done in either of two ways.

One way is to click on a link on the list's web page. Once you are on the list's information page, assuming a list named Healthychoice, locate the Using Healthychoice section. Click on the link for posting a message and it will launch your e-mail client so that you may compose your message. The list's address gets filled into the To: box automatically. (Note, this does not work properly with some Netscape browser installations. If you use Netscape, see the choice below.)

Alternatively, you may send to the list directly from your e-mail client, without going to the list information page. Address your message to: <listname>@lists.drake.edu
where <listname> is the name of the list. Be sure to leave off the brackets! For example, to sent to a list called Healthychoice, put the following in the To: field for your e-mail message: healthychoice@lists.drake.edu

How do I customize my Mailman subscriptions?

The Mailman list processor provides a member options web page for each list you join. From the list's information page, click on Unsubscribe or Edit Options in the Subscribers section. You will be taken to the member options login page. Enter your e-mail address and password for that list. You will see four sections which, like the list information pages, are given titles that are specific to the list. For a list named Healthychoice, these sections and their contents are:

Unsubscribing from Healthychoice A button for requesting that Mailman remove you from the list. Don't forget to check Yes, I really want to unsubscribe.
Your other lists.drake.edu subscriptions A button that will take you to a web page which lists all of your list subscriptions. Click on one and you'll go to the options page for that list.
Your Healthychoice Password A spot for requesting a password reminder and for changing your password on this and if you like, all other Mailman lists that you have subscribed to.
Your Healthychoice Subscription Options A set of radio buttons where you may specify many subscription options. Some of the more useful options allow you to suspend mailings from the list, for example, if you go on vacation; to enable digest delivery mode and to enable a once a month password reminder. Additional subscription options for the list and their current settings are displayed and may be changed from this spot.

Be sure to click the Submit My Changes button after you've made any changes on this page.

How do I access the Mailman list archives?

Archives of previous postings made to a given list are accessible from the list's information page. For example, to get to the archived messages for Healthychoice, go to the list information page and locate the section About Healthychoice. At the bottom of that section you will see Healthychoice Archives, a link that will take you directly to the archive page for that list:

http://lists.drake.edu/pipermail/healthychoice

Once there, you will see a listing of archives, arranged by date. You may view the archives sorted by thread, subject, author or date. Click on one of those four for a given archive and the messages in the archive will be listed. You may then click on the messages, one at a time.