The following values can be set for your new list by the Mailman administrator during the process of creating your new list for you. Values indicated by an asterisk (*) are required and must be supplied before your new list will be created. Many of the values have defaults which are either the most popular settings or the recommended settings for most lists. If a default exists for a particular value, then it is already preset for you and you will not need to do anything to that field in order to accept the default. When you are done setting the values you wish, please select the Submit button to send your request to the Mailman administrator. Please also be aware that most of these values may be reset by the list administrator after the list has been created.

1. *List Name: (example: Listname-L)
   The "-L" ending is not absolutely required, but it is very strongly recommended.

   Please use only Alphabetic or Numeric characters and hyphens in the listname. Blanks are absolutely not permitted, and we have experienced some problems in the past when using underscores.

2. List Administrators: These are the person or people who will be maintaining the list configuration and approving/rejecting any subscription requests on private lists, outside messages submitted to moderated lists, or messages which do not meet the various filtering requirements for unmoderated lists. Each address in this block will receive a copy of each of the notices sent to administrators of the list. Please note that a person does not necessarily have to be included here to be permitted to submit to a moderated list directly.
    
   All email addresses should be in full internet form (e.g., you@your.host.site)

   Important: At least one of these addresses MUST be the University of Alaska affiliated sponsor of the list. This sponsor is the owner of the list. Requests which are not made by a current University of Alaska affiliate who is sponsoring the list and listed among the administrators will be discarded. Lists in use which are discovered to be without a current University of Alaska sponsor among the administrators may be subject to removal from the server. List ownership can be transferable, but only to another University of Alaska affiliate.

   Also: We very strongly urge that any University of Alaska personnel who are listed in the administrators box please use the human-friendly (first.lastname@uaf.edu or first.lastname@alaska.edu, etc.) form of their University email address to help identify you to your list membership should any questions arise. If you do not already have such a version of your University email address, you may request one at any OIT Support Center location.

   • *Name of University List Sponsor:

   • *Email address of University List Sponsor:

   • Email addresses of Co-Administrators:
     

3. Email addresses of Moderators who will receive "Awaiting Approval" messages for this list are:
   

   A Moderator (not to be confused with a Moderated List) is sub-category of list administrator who is given the capability to approve or reject posts or subscription requests in the list's Approval Queue. Unlike the list administrators listed above, a moderator does not have the capability to change any of the list parameters. Moderators are only given the capability to help manage the contents of the Approval Queue. Please do not duplicate addresses of any of the list administrators in the box above, or they will receive duplicate copies of the "Awaiting Approval" messages from the list.

4. *Terse Phrase Identifying List: (example: A Demo List)
   This is the short line which will be used to describe this list on the "List of Lists" web page.

5. *Introductory Description: This text will appear on the web page which introduces your list. It should consist of a (few) paragraph(s) describing the purpose of your list. While any rules you wish to apply to the list can be included here, it is not necessary to include technical instructions for using the list, as those will be provided elsewhere.
   

6. Prefix for Subject Line of Postings:
   This value defaults to the name of the list in brackets. It will be inserted at the beginning of the subject line of all messages distributed through your list. The default is recommended.

7. Is this an Anonymous list: No Yes
   An Anonymous list removes all email headings which identify the poster from messages posted to the list. The messages appear simply to have originated from the list.
   Please Note: This does not remove identifying information from the contents of the message, so the poster should be aware and take care not to include personally-identifying information in the body of messages sent to an anonymous list.

8. Replies to list messages should be directed to: The Poster The List An Explicit Address

   If you selected an Explicit Address, the address is:

9. Welcome Message: This text will appear at the beginning of the Welcome message sent to new subscribers to your list. The rest of the welcome message already describes the important addresses and URLs for the mailing list, so you don't need to include any of that kind of stuff here. This should just contain mission-specific kinds of things, like purpose of the list, etiquette policies, or that kind of thing.
   Note: If this field is left blank, the paragraph(s) from the Introductory Description above will be used.
   

10. Farewell Message: This text will be sent to people leaving the list. If left empty, no specific text will be added to the default unsubscribe message.
    

11. Notify administrator(s) of Subscribes and Unsubscribes: Yes No

12. Advertise this list on the List of Lists: Yes No

13. Steps required for subscription: Require confirmation Require admin approval Require confirmation + admin approval

    • If confirmation is required, an email is sent to the subscriber address, and the subscriber must return a confirmation that they wish to be subscribed. Unconfirmed requests are dropped after three days. (This protects against others subscribing a person without their knowledge or consent).
    • If admin approval is required, the request is queued and the list administrator(s) is(are) notified that a request is pending. The list admin then has the option to allow or refuse the subscription request. This enables a list's membership to be managed by the administrator(s).
    • If confirmation and admin approval are required, an email is sent to the subscriber address for confirmation and the request is queued for administrator approval. If the confirmation is not received within three days or if the admin refuses the subscription, the request is dropped.

14. Who may view the list of subscribers: List Members Only List Admin(s) Anyone

15. Is this a Moderated list: No Yes
    A Moderated list accepts direct postings only from a selected address or addresses. If others wish to have messages posted to the list, such messages must be sent to a moderator to be submitted to the list, or must be approved by a list administrator. If a message is sent to a moderated list by someone who is not listed as a moderator, the message is queued and the list administrator(s) notified that a message is queued pending approval. The list admin may approve the message (in which case, it will be automatically sent to the list) or reject it (with a message to the original poster, if desired).
    Please Note: If a message being rejected is a SPAM message, the email address provided is almost always NOT the address of the spammer. Please DISCARD spam messages rather than REJECT them. Any notification you attempt to send them will most likely only help clog our server.

16. Does this list allow Digest mode: Yes No
    List members who choose to receive postings to the list in Digested form do not receive messages sent to the list individually at the time they are sent. Instead, the messages are accumulated until the file reaches a specified size or until 24 hours have passed since the last digest was sent out. Then, all of the messages accumulated since the last digest are sent out as a single file. On particularly prolific lists, this permits list members to choose not to be interrupted with list traffic frequently during the day.

    If this list can be digested,

    • Which mode do you prefer as the default for new subscribers: Non-digested Digested
    • Which digest format do you prefer as the default for new subscribers: Plain Text MIME Digest
      A MIME Digest is a special format which some email clients can use to format and process message digests in a more user-friendly manner. Not all email clients are capable of this special handling of MIME digests.
    • What size limit (in kilobytes) should trigger sending a digest:
    • Should the digest be sent every 24 hours if the size limit has not yet been reached: Yes No

17. Should this list be Archived: No Yes
    Messages sent to Archived lists are saved in an HTML format for future reference. The link to the list's archive is offered on the list's information web page.

    If the list is to be archived, should the archives be available to: List Members Only (Private) Anyone (Public)

    Note: If this list is not a Moderated, Public list, then please consider carefully before selecting a Public Archive. Not everyone is thrilled to find their email messages (even to lists) showing up on the Internet Search Engines. If you opt for a Public Archive, it might be a good idea to mention it prominently in both your web-based and email Welcome messages (above) so as to make sure your subscribers are well aware of it.

• Do you have any questions, special requests, comments or suggestions?
  

Once the list is created, the list owner will be notified by e-mail. S/he will receive a message from mailman-owner@lists.uaf.edu which contains the pertinent addresses and URLs as well as the password needed to access the administrative web pages for your list. Soon thereafter, s/he should receive a message from the Mailman administrator informing him/her that the list is available for use. The time between the two messages is necessary for the Mailman administrator to initialize the list to the values you have chosen on this form.

After you (the list owner) receive the message informing you that your list is available for use, please sign on to the web interface and change your list's administrative password as soon as possible. The password has been sent unencrypted through email, and it is best not to chance a compromise in security. When you have changed the password, then you may notify your co-administrators (if any) of the new password and the addresses and URLs for the list. If you forward them a copy of the original notification message, please do not include the new password in the message or you will need to change it again.

If you have designated any list moderators, you should also set the password for them when you set the list administrator's password. Please do not use the same password for both. That will make them list administrators and defeat the purpose of the moderators' function. As with the list administrator password, please do not send it in an unencrypted email nor leave it on an unsecured or shared answering machine or voicemail. Please keep passwords as protected as possible.

Usually, new lists should be up and available to you within a day or two after this information reaches the Mailman administrator. If you need assistance with this form or have any questions, please email, call, or walk-in to any OIT Support Center location.