NIH LISTSERV Facility
|
Division of Network Systems and Telecommunications
|
Any HHS employee (or registered NIH Computer Facility user) may set up a new list and become a list owner. List owners are responsible for managing lists that they "own." Each LISTSERV list must have at least one owner who is willing to be responsible for the list. Lists with no owners (or owners who cannot be reached) may be terminated.
The easiest way to set up a new list on the NIH LISTSERV facility is to complete the online application form. Point your browser at the NIH LISTSERV Home Page, then click Create a LISTSERV List.
If you have questions about the application form or about the creation of a list in general, please contact TASC at 301-594-6248, or e-mail the NIH LISTSERV Administrators at listmaster@list.nih.gov.
The recommended format of the list name is 6-15 alphanumeric characters of your choosing (hyphens are OK). (It is customary, but not required, to add "-L" to the end of the name to indicate that it is a mailing list.)
This name will be checked for uniqueness against all existing NIH list names.
Short description: Please supply a ONE-line description of the list, which can be up to 45 characters in length. This one-line description, along with the list name, is shown on the "list of lists" that appears on the LISTSERV website. It is also supplied by LISTSERV whenever a user issues a LIST command to LISTSERV to find out what lists are available. We recommend you include your agency title in your description, if appropriate.
Long description: Please supply a more complete description of the list. When a user issues a REVIEW command for your list, LISTSERV sends this description, along with other basic information about the list. We recommend you include your agency title in your description, if appropriate.
Name, Address, ICD (or Agency, if not NIH), Phone, Fax
(self-explanatory)
Full e-mail address
If you plan on administering your list via e-mail, your owner address for the list must exactly match the "From:" address that appears on your outgoing e-mail, or LISTSERV will not recognize you as the owner once the list is set up. In most cases, your "From:" address is the same as your ACTUAL e-mail address, e.g., jonesp@odrockm1.od.nih.gov (NOT Paul_Jones@nih.gov).
POSSIBLE EXCEPTIONS: if you use e-mail software such as Eudora mail, which allows you to specify your "From:" address, AND you have specified your NIH directory alias as your "From:" address, you can use it as an owner address.
If you plan on administering your list via the NIH LISTSERV List Management Web Interface, you may use any valid e-mail address as your owner address. You will need to set up a LISTSERV password for that address (see Login and Passwords for details on setting up a password on the Web interface).
If not an HHS employee, please provide CIT Account/Initials or Helix UserID:
If you did not enter an NIH or other HHS e-mail address above, your application will not be accepted without either a Wylbur account/initials or a Helix account.
Please enter name and e-mail addresses for additional list owners, if desired:
(self-explanatory)
Receive owner mail (e.g., error messages, subscriber inquiries and requests)?
- YES
- NO
Receiving owner mail is mandatory for the primary list owner, but optional for any additional list owners. Check yes or no for each additional owner.
Every list has settings that control the automatic "behavior" of the list. For example, your list settings determine whether list archives are kept, or who can subscribe to the list. Your responses to the following questions will determine the initial settings for your list. Nearly all settings can be changed by the owner after the list is created by modifying the list header (see Changing Your List Settings (Modifying the List Header). For a more complete list of possible settings, see List Control Keywords.
Will this list be used for announcements or discussions?
- DISCUSSION LIST
- ANNOUNCEMENTS ONLY (one-way communication)
Your response to this question determines who gets the response when a subscriber hits the "reply" button while reading list mail. Selecting DISCUSSION LIST will generally cause replies to go to the entire list. This setting is good for back and forth discussion among list subscribers. The ANNOUNCEMENTS ONLY setting is best for essentially one-way communication, i.e., for posting announcements to a group of subscribers. If a subscriber chooses to reply to a message, the reply will generally go to the original sender of the message only.
Please define the "service area" for your list (this determines the area from which subscription requests will be accepted).
- NIH ONLY - list for internal NIH use only
- HHS ONLY - list for internal HHS use only
- GLOBAL - list not limited to NIH or HHS
This question defines the service area from which subscription requests will be accepted by LISTSERV. Select NIH ONLY if your list will be for internal NIH use; only subscription requests from NIH e-mail addresses will be accepted by LISTSERV (NIH addresses are those that end in NIH.GOV, NCIFCRF.GOV, or CBER.FDA.GOV.). If you select NIH ONLY, you also have the option of limiting other settings to NIH ONLY, such as how widely the list will be visible, or who can view the list of subscribers (see following questions).
Select HHS ONLY if your list will be for internal HHS use; only subscription requests from HHS agency e-mail addresses will be accepted by LISTSERV (HHS addresses include all NIH addresses, as well as addresses ending in: DHHS.GOV; AHCPR.GOV; CDC.GOV; FDA.GOV; HCFA.GOV; HRSA.GOV; IHS.GOV; and SAMHSA.GOV). If you select HHS ONLY, you also have the option of limiting other settings to HHS ONLY, such as how widely the list will be visible, or who can view the list of subscribers (see following questions).
If you anticipate having subscribers from outside the NIH and HHS service areas, select GLOBAL.
How do you wish to handle subscription requests?
- CLOSED - owner must add and delete all subscribers; user subscription requests are rejected
- BY OWNER - user subscription requests are sent to owner for approval
- OPEN - anyone may submit a subscription request
This question defines how user requests to subscribe to the list are handled by LISTSERV. If subscription is CLOSED, only the owner may add or delete subscribers; all user subscription requests are rejected by LISTSERV. If subscription is BY OWNER, subscription requests from within the list's service area are forwarded to the list owner for approval. If subscription is OPEN, anyone in the list's service area may subscribe.
Who should be able to see your list of subscribers?
- OWNER - only list owner may view subscriber list
- PRIVATE - only list subscribers may view subscriber list
- SERVICE AREA - anyone in the "service area" of your mailing list may view subscriber list
This question determines who may view the list of subscribers (the output of the REVIEW command). If set to OWNER, only the list owner will be able to view the subscriber list. PRIVATE limits viewing to list subscribers only. SERVICE AREA limits viewing to the service area you selected above.
NOTE: If you selected GLOBAL as your service area, we recommend that you select PRIVATE or OWNER in this question in order to protect your subscriber list from spammers and other "nasties."
How widely do you want your list to be visible (i.e., does it appear on LISTSERV's "list of lists")?
- CONFIDENTIAL - list is essentially hidden; does not appear on "list of lists"
- SERVICE AREA - list is visible to anyone in the "service area" of your mailing list; does appear on "list of lists"
The response to this question determines whether, and how widely, LISTSERV publishes your list name and description. Depending on this setting, LISTSERV may or may not include your list on a composite "list of lists" available to users on the Web or by command; if you selected GLOBAL as your service area, the "list of lists" may be further publicized to various search sites on the Internet. Selecting CONFIDENTIAL will completely hide your list from the world. Selecting SERVICE AREA will cause your list to be visible within the SERVICE AREA you selected above.
Who should be able to post (send mail) to the list?
- OWNER - only the list owner may post to the list
- EDITOR - puts list under control of an editor who reviews all mail before it is posted
- PRIVATE - only list subscribers may post to the list
- SERVICE AREA - anyone in the "service area" of your mailing list may post to the list
Your response to this question defines who is allowed to send mail to your list.
Selecting SERVICE AREA allows anyone within the service area you selected above to post.
Selecting PRIVATE allows any list subscriber to post. NOTE, however, that with the PRIVATE setting, a subscriber may only post from the address at which he or she is subscribed to the list. For example, if Joe is subscribed as Joe.User@nih.gov, he will not be able to post to the list from another email account such as JoeU@aol.com.
Selecting EDITOR puts your list under control of an editor. This means that all list mail will be forwarded to the EDITOR for approval before it is posted to the list. Selecting OWNER means that only the owner of the list may post.
Do you wish to keep list archives (stored copies of all list postings)?
- Yes
- No
If you select "yes" for this question, LISTSERV will keep a copy of every posting sent to your list. These copies can be retrieved and viewed upon request.
NOTE: If you select "no" (i.e., choose not to create list archives), your list will not appear on the NIH website at all. This means that users will have to use emailed commands to join or leave the list.
How often should we archive your list postings?
- WEEKLY - archive file stored weekly
- MONTHLY - archive file stored monthly
- YEARLY - archive file stored yearly
This question will only appear if you previously indicated that you wish for list archives to be kept.
When LISTSERV creates list archives, it saves all list postings into files. Your answer to this question determines how often the files are saved and thus, indirectly, the size of the saved files. LISTSERV groups all postings during the interval you specify together into a single concatenated file and stores the file by date. Your choices are WEEKLY, MONTHLY, or YEARLY. The busier your list, the shorter the interval you should choose.
How long should we retain archive files for your list?
List archives are normally kept for 12 months. They can be kept for a longer or shorter period of time by entering the number of months in the field provided. If you want to keep all of your files indefinitely, enter "none" (without the quotes) in the field.
Who should be able to access the list archives?
- OWNER - only list owner may access archives
- PRIVATE - only list subscribers may access archives
- SERVICE AREA - only users in your service area may access archives
This question will only appear if you previously indicated that you wish for list archives to be kept.
This setting lets you specify who is allowed to read your list archives. A good rule of thumb is to limit this to the same group that was allowed to read the original messages when they were posted to the list. Your choices are OWNER (only the list owner may view), PRIVATE (only list subscribers may view), or SERVICE AREA (individuals may view within the service area you selected previously).
Please designate one or more editors. All editors specified will be able to post directly to the list. The list owner can post to the list by default, even if not designated as an editor.
E-mail address(es) of editor(s):
This question will only appear if you previously indicated that you wanted your list to be edited. You must specify at least one editor here. Fill in the editor's FULL e-mail address (see the WARNING under List Owner Information above, concerning NIH directory aliases). Any designated editor may post directly to the list (provided, of course, that he/she posts from the designated editor address).
How do you want LISTSERV to distribute postings to the editor(s) for approval?
- FIRST EDITOR ONLY - first editor approves all postings
- SHARED EDITING - all editors take turns approving postings
- ALL - all postings sent to all editors for approval
You have several choices regarding how LISTSERV distributes postings to the list editors for approval. If you select FIRST EDITOR ONLY, LISTSERV will send all postings for approval to the first editor on the list. If you select SHARED EDITING, LISTSERV will take turns distributing postings to each of the editors for approval. If you select ALL, LISTSERV will send each posting to all of the editors. (LISTSERV has built-in detection mechanisms to prevent duplicate postings.)
Do you wish to enable "hands-off" bounce processing for your list?
- YES
- NO
"Hands-off" bounce processing enables LISTSERV to automatically process virtually all delivery error notices (commonly called "bounces"). It utilizes LISTSERV's new passive probe feature, which monitors each subscriber address for responsiveness over a specified interval. Bad addresses are automatically deleted by LISTSERV and no intervention is needed by the list owner.
"Hands-off" bounce processing is extremely convenient, especially for large or busy lists. However, if your list has a specific, critical list of subscribers—such as the members of an important committee—this feature is not recommended.
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO LIST OWNERS
Since your list will be running on government-owned equipment, it must constitute a valid use of Federal funds. Once your list has been created, you will be responsible for its content. Although it is unlikely that users of your list would misuse Federal resources associated with its functioning, it is important that you remain aware of how it is being used. The NIH LISTSERV Administrator is available to provide guidance if you encounter any "awkward" situations during your role as list owner.
Pressing the submit button indicates that you understand this notice.
When you've filled out the entire application form, press the submit button at the very bottom to send it to the LISTSERV Administrators for processing. You should see a new page in your browser which contains the NIH LISTSERV logo and the following message:
Thank you!
Your application for a new list has been successfully submitted to the LISTSERV Administrator. List setup generally requires approximately one business day or less. You will be notified via e-mail when your list is operational.
If you do not see this acknowledgement page, chances are the form did not get submitted properly. Within one business day of completing the application, you and your co-owners, if any, should receive e-mailed notification that your list has been set up. If you do not receive this notification within 2 days after submitting your request, or if you require other assistance, please contact TASC at 301-594-6248, or send e-mail to listmaster@list.nih.gov.
Create a LISTSERV password, if you don't already have one. See "Login and Passwords."
Add subscribers to your list. You can do this one at a time (see "Managing Subscribers"), or add multiple users at once (see "Bulk Operations"). Or, you can publicize your list and wait for users to subscribe themselves.
Once you have subscribers, you can send mail to your list.
From your email software, address an email message to list name@list.nih.gov (substitute the name of the list for "listname" in the address). In the body of the email, type the message to be posted. For example, if you were sending a message to the "TLC-L" list At the NIH LISTSERV Facility, you would send your mail to:
tlc-l@list.nih.gov
Mail sent to the list is received by LISTSERV and distributed to all list subscribers (unless they have set the NOMAIL option for that list).
Sending mail to a list should not be confused with sending commands to LISTSERV, which is described in "Sending Commands to LISTSERV."
If your list's audience is global in scope (i.e., not restricted to the NIH user community), you may wish to advertise its existence. Lists that are designated as public by the list owner will be automatically included on a List of Lists kept by L-Soft International, owners of LISTSERV. To view it, point your browser at:
http://www.lsoft.com/CataList.html
There is also a pointer to the CataList website from the NIH LISTSERV Home Page. Click on Mailing List Search Sites, then click CataList.
Another good way to advertise your site is to send a posting announcing your new list to the NEW-LIST project. new-list@listserv.classroom.com distributes announcements of new and changed mailing lists to over 9,500 subscribers every day. Make sure that your list is well tested and ready for new subscriptions before you send your announcement. Also make sure that your announcement is as correct and comprehensive as possible, as news on the Internet spreads quickly and a mistake in a NEW-LIST announcement may cause problems for both you and other users months later.
For more information on the NEW-LIST project and what you need to use it, point your Web browser at the URL:
LISTSERV is designed to be "self-service," and list owners are expected to perform routine list maintenance, such as adding and deleting users or modifying the list header, on their own. As always, the LISTSERV Administrators are available to assist if you run into trouble. However, there are some circumstances that require the intervention of the LISTSERV Administrators:
To obtain assistance from the LISTSERV Administrators, please send e-mail explaining the problem to listmaster@list.nih.gov.
| Back | Table of Contents | Next |