
                Mailing lists


About Mailing Lists

A mailing list consists of a name or "alias" for the list plus a set of
addresses.  Each time mail is sent to that alias, the mail is sent to
each address on the list.  For this reason, mailing lists are often
called reflectors.

For example, you could set up a list called "project-abc" which
includes "joe@violet", "mary@psu.edu", and "jean@rutgers.edu".  If you
send mail to "project-abc", copies of the message will be sent to three
e-mail addresses.

Mailing lists differ in whether they are public or private and how the
list is maintained.


UCLink Public Lists

On UCLink, you can set up and maintain public mailing lists via the
entries in this menu.

With these lists, only the owner can edit the list.  However, anyone on
the Internet can send mail to the list, and anyone can see who is on
the mailing list.


Private lists

A private mailing list is a list that only the owner can send mail to.
Use your mail application program to create your private mailing
lists.  E.g., if you use Pine, from the main menu, type "a" to go to
the address book and then use "s" to create a private mailing list and
"z" to add entries to an existing private mailing list.

Private mailing lists may also be created in other mail systems, such
as in NUPop, Eudora, and BSD mail.

These lists are not only private, but also specific to the mail
program.  For example, if you create a private list in Pine, you can
not use it from Eudora, NUPop or BSD mail.


Listserves

A listserve is a special type of public mailling list which allows
individuals to subscribe or desubscribe to the list via email without
requiring action by the owner of the list.  This is a valuable feature,
especially for large mailing lists.  However, listserve software is not
available on UCLink.


UCLink Mailing List Policies

UCLink policy requires you to obtain the explicit permission of anyone
you add to your mailing list.  Additional policies are specified in the
Policies section of the UCLink gopher.  Please read them to familiarize
yourself with the conditions for using this service.


UCLink Public Lists - Details

Select the "Set up a new public mailing list" menu entry to choose a
name for your list.  This sets it up, but with on one on the list.
Then use the "Edit one of my public mailing lists" entry to add
addresses to the list or to change the list.

List names must be longer than 8 characters to guarantee that they do
not conflict with UCLink user names.  List names may contain only lower
case letters, numbers, plus signs (+), underscores (_) and  hyphens (-).

You need to use an editor to add names to the list or modify the list.
The easiest editor to learn is Pico, the editor derived from the Pine
mail system.

To get help from within Pico, type control-G (while holding down the
"control" key, type "g").  Exit Pico by typing control-X.

Add the addresses one per line, e.g.:

        john@uclink
        mary@unix1.lbl.gov
        tom@violet

If you want to include additional information, you can include it in
parentheses following the mail address, e.g.:

	john@uclink   (John Doe)

Once you have gone through the steps to set up a mailing list, it takes
10 minutes before the alias for the list is known to the sytem and may
be used.

Then, you or anyone else can send mail to the mailing list by sending
mail to "xxxx@uclink.berkeley.edu" or "xxxx@uclink2.berkeley.edu",
where "xxxx" is the name you have chosen for the list, and uclink
or uclink2 is the name of the system on which you created the list.

In addition to creating the alias "xxxx", which is used to address mail
to the entire group, two other aliases are created, "xxxx-request" and
"owner-xxxx".  These are set to the list owner's e-mail address so that
you will get any mail sent to these aliases.

"xxxx-request" is set up so that people can send subscription
information to the list maintainer without sending it to the whole
list.  Tell people to send requests to be added, deleted, or to have
changes made to "xxxx-request".

"owner-xxxx" is used by the mailer to notify the owner of the list of
delivery errors.  Usually this works, but occassionally the information
is just sent to the sender of a message to the list, rather than to the
owner of the list.
