Week 1 (Feb 28 - Mar 11) - LA - 101 Introduction to List Administration for owners

Description of Lesson 1

Login into ListServ 
Establishing your e-mail address and Password
Making contact with ListServ
Explanation of management areas of ListServ
Deleting and adding Subscribers

So, you have been assigned the responsibility of administering a  Communications List by HEC? This in computer high tech lingo  is translated that you are the owner of the List. You should be able to subscribe or delete members, change the functioning of your list to do things like sending e-mail out in Digest form, Archive e-mail at certain intervals, receive mail in HTML format and a variety of other things.

But before we go into major details, let us examine the basics of List operations. How you Login, change your password and subscribe or delete members from the List.

When you are advised that you have been assigned as the owner of a List, that means that the Managers of the List (Usually one or two directors of HEC) have enter your e-mail address and your name into the configuration of the List, so that you should be able to get in and manage it.

The procedure is straight forward. You go to the web page that houses the List, and you select the List you are to manage.

The server will ask you to identify yourself so to make sure that you are the owner. The identification is done in this manner. Since your Manager has already introduce you to the serve by entering into the configuration file your e-mail address and your password.

Once the server has made certain as to who you are and from what computer you are calling, it will open for you the server screen and you should be able to make the changes we mentioned above. 

Let us see where can we find the server and how we let it know who we are (login):

1. Start your browser and point it at URL http://www.greece.org/scripts/wa.exe

If this is the first time you are attempting to reach the server, the server will want to identify you and it will ask you for your e-mail and password. Just follow the instructions carefully. They simple, and straight forward.

Enter your e-mail address and your password. You will be asked to re-enter your password to make sure that it was entered correctly the first time.

Once this is done, the server will tell you that you will be advised by e-mail, that you are allowed to enter the server. Within a few seconds check your e-mail. You will receive an e-mail from the List-Serv telling you to click on a link which will verify who you are.

This is done so to make certain that someone else is not using your e-mail and password to enter the server.

Just follow the instructions and your login will be verified. You should not have any problems but in case that you have tried a second time and you are being rejected, please let us know at Learning@hec.greece.org. We will double check to make sure that your name and e-mail address have been entered correctly in the server.

After your login is successful you will be asked only periodically to verify your e-mail and address.

2. Enter now in your browser the URL: http://www.greece.org/scripts/wa.exe

If your login was successful you will see the following screen:

 

HELLENIC ELECTRONIC CENTER's LISTSERV!

From this page, you can access the following services:

 

	Online mailing list archives.
	CataList, the official catalog of public LISTSERV® lists.
	Online documentation in HTML format: LISTSERV user's guide. LISTSERV list owner's quick start. LISTSERV list owner's guide. LISTSERV site manager's guide.
	Mailing list management interface (list owners only).
	Server management interface (LISTSERV administrator only).

Back to the LISTSERV home page at HEC.GREECE.ORG.                                 

 

 

 

At this time I will cover briefly what each line means. Later we can go on and explain in more detail.

1. Online mailing list archives. This is the gateway to the archived e-mail

2. CataList, the official catalog of public LISTSERV^® lists. This is a commercial by our sponsor. The CataList gives the names of all the individuals and companies which are using the ListServ program.

3. Online documentation in HTML format:  The next 4 entrees contain the documentation of the ListServ program, You are welcome to go through it copy pages for your use and study it. Don't be concerned. You will not damage the text.

4. Mailing list management interface (list owners only). This is it. By clicking on this hyperlink you will open a window which will allow you to enter and manage the List or Lists which you own. (More a little later)

5.  Server management interface (LISTSERV administrator only). This is for the big technical gurus of HEC. From here they control, create Lists and perform many other operations on the ListServ.

Just a little more and we are done with today's lesson.

Let 's say that your e-mail and password has been accepted and the ListServ has establish that you are a legitimate owner of the List, and let us say that one of your first tasks is to subscribe someone.

Go to URL: http://www.greece.org/scripts/wa.exe and when the above screen opens select : 

"Mailing list management interface (list owners only)."

Click on the hyperlink and the screen below will open. Everything is pretty much self explanatory. Go over the screen to familiarize yourself with the details.

List management – main page

This screen allows you to manage your mailing list using LISTSERV's WWW interface. First, select the list you would like to work with:

 

List name:

AHEPA -Discussion of Hellenic and AHEPA issues. AHEPA-ACTION-NET Ahepa Action List AHEPA-AUSSIE -Ahepa Australia AHEPA5-95 Wilmington Chapter (95) Of District 5 AHI -American Hellenic Institute AHI-DELAWARE -American Hellenic Institute-Delaware CFA -Cyprus Federation of America CONGRESS -Senate and Congressmen D-O-P-DIST5 -Daughters Of Penelope FRIENDS -Friends of HEC FRIENDS-TWO -Friends of HEC GOPATALEX -English GOPATALEX2 -Greek HEC7 AHEPA - Temporary List LEARN-FP -Learn FRONT PAGE LEARNFP Learn Front Page SONS -The Sons Of Pericles

Then choose from one of the following options:

These menus allow you to add or delete subscribers, change a subscriber's e-mail address or subscription options, see whether someone is still subscribed to the list, etc. If you have a lot of subscribers to add or delete, see bulk operations.

This is the place to go if you want to change the configuration options for your list (also known as the list header).

The layout editor allows you to customize the WWW interface using a simple graphical interface. You can switch between text and graphical (icon-based) layout for the archive pages, disable functions which are not useful or not wanted for your particular list, or even translate the archive pages.

The template editor allows you to customize the administrative messages sent by LISTSERV in response to most commands (known as mail templates). You can also use it to exercise finer control on the layout of the WWW interface than is possible through the graphical layout editor. Note that the banners at the very top and bottom of WWW archive pages are under the LISTSERV administrator's control. You can, however, add your own top and bottom banners in addition to the site-wide ones imposed by the administrator.

This screen allows you to add or delete large numbers of subscribers from a text file that will be downloaded through your browser.

This screen allows you to execute an arbitrary LISTSERV command and see the results immediately, in your browser window.

If enabled by the administrator, this screen allows you to send customized mail-merge messages to your subscribers. You can choose which subscribers should receive the message (for instance, all AOL subscribers who are set to NOMAIL), and you can include customized substitutions or conditional blocks in the message (this is particularly useful when coupled to a DBMS back-end).

Enter the server administration area (LISTSERV administrator only).

 

Back to the LISTSERV home page at HEC.GREECE.ORG.

 

 

 

For now select one of the Lists you are authorized to manage and then click on the SUBSCRIBER button. A new screen will open which will give you the option to Add or Remove a subscriber, or even make changes and modifications to the subscribers name, e-mail, title and so on.

Account management – AHEPA

 

Examine or delete a subscription

Name or address:	henry@somewhere.com Henry Brown s*lvia

Add a new user to the list

Name & address:	henry@somewhere.com Henry Brown Henry Brown <henry@somewhere.com>
	Send welcome message
	Do not notify the user in any way

Review the list membership

You can review the list membership either in a browser window or by e-mail. You should avoid using a browser window if the list has more than about 500 subscribers – it will be slow and impractical, and could even crash your browser.

Back to the list management page.

 

Back to the LISTSERV home page at HEC.GREECE.ORG.

 

 

 

Again the screen is very easy and self-explanatory. The upper portion of the List contains the mechanism of searching and removing subscribers, while the lower portion is for entering new subscribers.

If you are searching for subscribers already on the List, I have found out that the List can do a better job if you enter a key word rather than the whole e-mail address and name.  With the last name only entered, the ListServ will perform a better search. If there are more than one persons with the same last name, it will report all the names along with individual details. Select the name you want and perform the operation. 

In the lower portion of the screen you enter new subscribers. Follow always the same format. Enter first the e-mail address without brackets and then the First and last names. You may add titles if you so desire but always follow the same format.

I don't think that you will have any problems following the instructions, and do not be concerned that you might cause some damage to the server. It is impossible.

And remember, if you do run into any difficulties please let us know at Learn-FP@hec.greece.org You will receive an answer. 

Note: If you have questions about the LA -101 course you may also send e-mail to 
George N. Rigos at GRigos@Hec.Greece.Org

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