University of Ulster List Service
 

FAQ

About the List Service

Q) What is the Mailing List Service?

A) It is a service designed for the central dissemination of information to staff and students of the University via e-mail.

ISD control a number of 'bulk' lists which allow messages to be targeted at large groups such as 'All Staff'. If you need to send a message to a large group like this then you must have the head-of-department/faculty's authorization. The message should be sent, along with the authorization, to the Service Desk who will send the message on your behalf.

The list service is also a tool available to University staff who wish to set up private lists to allow communication between groups of staff or students, collaborative units and organisations both within the University and beyond. Lists must be used for academic purposes and conform to the University's Acceptable Computer Use Policy.

Private lists are maintained and managed by individual staff members via a convenient secure web-interface.

Q) What are the benefits of having a private 'List-Service' list compared to creating a mailing list in Outlook, or Eudora?

A) One of the fundamental differences between a list-server list and a list created in a mail client like Outlook is that the list-service list has a single email address that posters send their messages to:
e.g. example-list@lists.ulst.ac.uk
The message is then distributed to everyone subscribed to the list. This may be hundreds of subscribers. With lists created in mail clients like Outlook, when a message is sent to a list of recipients, all of the addresses appear in the message header. Apart from looking untidy, this may also cause privacy issues if everyone can see everyone else's email address. List server list administrators can easily manage list members via a web-interface and can control who has access to view individual list member's addresses.

Another benefit of creating and managing a list-server list is that you can configure it as you see fit. You can restrict who can post to it and moderate poster's messages before they are sent to the list subscribers - an effective weapon against spam. Unsuitable messages can be discarded by the moderator and persistant offenders can be banned from lists. This is not possible using a regular mail client list.

Q) How do I request the creation of a private list?

A) Go to the List Creation Request page and complete the form. You will be emailed with further instructions once the list request is verified and the list is created. Note that the list creation process may take time subject to the number of list requests being processed, please be patient!

If you haven't heard anything after 3 working days, please contact:  listmaster@lists.ulst.ac.uk

Technical Issues

Q) Is there a resource to help me configure and manage my list?

A) Yes, the Mailman FAQ, Chapter 3. List Administrator Tasks.
http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw-mm.py?req=index

Please do not contact 'listmaster' until you have read this document - it describes everything you need to know about configuring Mailman lists.
Note - the following parameters should not be changed by list administrators:

• (Under 'Privacy Options' » 'Recipient Filters')
  Ceiling on acceptable number of recipients for a posting
• (Under 'General Options')
  Maximum length in kilobytes (KB) of a message body

These are set by the site administrator to reduce the possibility of spam or virus abuse of lists.
Attempts to change these parameters without permission from ISD will result in the list being shut down.

If you are still stuck or still unsure then contact:  listmaster@lists.ulst.ac.uk

Q) I received my 'List Created' e-mail and tried to click the hyperlink to configure my list but it gives me this error:

" Unable to Open..... A Security Problem Has Occurred."

A) This is a known problem with Microsoft Office software accessing secure URLs (https) from other Office applictions.
It is documented in the following knowledge-base article "Q230881": http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;271511

The fix is to copy and paste the 'https...' URL directly into the browser window, rather than clicking on the link. This should get round the problem.