UCSB Physics Computing Services

Managing Mail Lists

Introduction

Accessing the Mail List

Membership Management (adding & removing users)

Approving Messages

Privacy Options

Introduction

Managing a mail list consists of the following tasks:

Keeping the list up-to-date by adding or removing users.
Approving or rejecting posts.
Changing list attributes as needed.
Responding to user inquiries.

Accessing the List

Visit the website for the corresponding mail list.

The convention is as follows:: https://mail.physics.ucsb.edu/mailman/admin/<listname>

EXAMPLE: To administer the grads@physics.ucsb.edu mail list visit https://mail.physics.ucsb.edu/mailman/admin/grads

If you are a list administrator, you have been given a password to login to the mailman system. Contact PCS if you need a password. If you change the password you MUST contact PCS to give us the new password.

Membership Management

To add users:

Click "Membership Management".
Scroll down to the "Mass Subscribe Members" section.
In the text box, type in one email address per line.
Click the "Submit Your Changes" button at the bottom of the page.
The new recipients will show up at the top of the "Membership Management" page. Also verify their name within the list.

To remove users:

Click "Membership Management".
Find the user's email address in the Membership List.
Deselect the checkmark beside their name in the subscribe column.
Click the "Submit Your Changes" button at the bottom of the page.
Verify their name has been removed by searching for their address. If it's not there, they have been successfully removed.

Approving Messages

Occasionally an email message will get sent to the list administrator that says a message requires approval before it can get posted to the list.

1) Log in
2) Click: Tend to pending administrative request
3) Approve or reject the message.

The administrator can type in their own message in the text box which will get sent to the person trying to post a message.

Reasons why a message may need approval:

1) To many people listed in the "To:" or "cc:" field.

The mailman software recognizes this as possible spam. The administrator can increase the number of recipients if this becomes problematic.

Otherwise, educate your posters that they should send to the list only, and not include anyone else in the "To:" or "cc:" fields.

2) People try to post to the list who are not on the list.

Some lists require approval if someone outside the list tries to post a message. It should be up to the administrator how this option should be configured.

Privacy Options

Occasionally you may not want subscribers to see who is on the list.

Updated by Physics Computing Services
August 9, 2005