The options chosen for a list can have a large effect on the
usefulness of the list to its subscribers.
You can see the options for a list by sending a
REVIEW
request to the ACM LISTSERV:
REVIEW CHI-EDUCATORS
The LISTSERV will respond with a the list header,
a message describing the
owners of the list, the list options,
and the people on the list.
* ACM SIGCHI Educators Open Discussion List
*
* Owner= perlman@turing.acm.org (Gary Perlman)
* Owner= Quiet:
* Owner= perlman@oclc.org
* Owner= clore@acm.org
* Notebook= Yes, /home/listserv/home/notebooks/chi, Weekly, Public
* Digest= Yes,Same, Daily
* Errors-To= Owner
* Subscription= open
* Ack= Yes Confidential= No Notify= No
* Files= No Mail-Via= Distribute Validate= No
* Reply-to= Sender,Respect Review= Public Send= Public
* Stats= Normal,Private X-Tags= Yes
* Default-Options= NoFiles,Repro,Ack
*
*
* Total number of "concealed" subscribers: 1
* Total number of users subscribed to the list: 28 (non-"concealed" only)
* Total number of local node users on the list: 0 (non-"concealed" only)
|
This output can also be used as an input format.
That is: A list owner can GET this description:
GET CHI-EDUCATORS (HEADER
edit it, and PUT it back (stars and all) to change most options.
PUT CHI-EDUCATORS LIST PW=password
* ACM SIGCHI Educators (Open Discussion)
*
...
One of the easiest ways to have a list created
is to find a header that is close to what you want,
edit it, and submit the header to:
support@acm.org
After some trial and error,
two configurations of options have been identified
as ones commonly used for SIGCHI lists:
open lists (for discussion and/or announcements)
closed lists (for mail aliases or mailing lists).
The open/closed attribute only refers to subscriptions;
all SIGCHI lists allow anyone to send mail
and anyone to review list options and subscribers.
Open lists have open subscription (but require a quick
confirmation from subscribers to ensure that their email
address is correct).
Open lists have notebooks that archive old messages,
and subscribers have to option of receiving a digest.
* Errors-To= Owner Reply-to= Sender,Respect
* Subscription= Open,Confirm Validate= No Notify= No
* Send= Public Mail-Via= Distribute Ack= Yes
* Notebook= Yes, /home/listserv/home/notebooks/chi, Weekly, Public
* Digest= Yes,Same, Daily Files= No
* Review= Public Confidential= No
* Default-Options= NoFiles,Repro,Ack
|
Closed lists are used as aliases (for on or two people holding an office)
or for mailing lists (for committees),
so subscription is only by the list owner(s).
As these lists are used for confidential communications,
no notebook is kept,
and there is no digest option.
Default options for the behavior of the list are mainly
there for mailing lists.
* Errors-To= Owner Reply-to= Sender,Respect
* Subscription= Closed Validate= No Notify= No
* Send= Public Mail-Via= Distribute Ack= Yes
* Notebook= No Digest= No Files= No
* Review= Public Confidential= No
* Default-Options= NoFiles,Repro,Ack
|
Although LISTSERV 1.8c supports the Sub-Lists= option,
which allows you to define a hierarchy of lists,
the implementation of this feature makes it
much less attractive than it might otherwise be:
- they must be set up by the system administrator,
so they are not conveniently under list owner control,
so only lists that would not be expected to change
very often would be candidates
- although mail is sent recursively to the list and sublists,
the REVIEW and SCAN options are not recursive,
so tracing a hierarchy of lists would be a pain,
and prone to error
The following table describes the output and options,
some of which reflect SIGCHI EC policy decisions.
The most important considerations are those for list
openness:
- Subscription= Defines who can subscribe to the list
- Send= Defines who can send mail to the list
- Review= Defines who can review the list (and its unconcealed subscribers)
SIGCHI's policy is for discussion lists to be public on all dimensions,
for SIGCHI distributions lists (e.f., CHI-EC for the Executive Committee)
to be open to Send and Review, but be closed for subscription.
| Part
| Description
|
| title
| Descriptive Title for the List
|
| Owner=
| Name of the Primary List Owner
The first listed owner is the primary list owner.
|
| Owner= Quiet:
| Subsequent Owners are Quiet
Non-quiet owners could be added above the Quiet: tag.
|
| Notebook=
| Status and Location and Frequency of Archiving
|
| Digest=
| Status and Frequency of Digests
|
| Errors-To=
| Where Errors Should be Directed
|
| Subscription=
|
- Open
- Anyone can subscribe
(the default for SIGCHI discussion lists)
- By Owner
- A list owner must approve the subscription
(may require a lot of work by list owners)
- Closed
- Subscription requests are rejected,
users must be added by the owner
(the default for SIGCHI mailing lists)
|
| Ack=
| Determines the Feedback to Posters
- yes
- A short acknowledgement is sent to the poster
along with some statistical information (e.g.,
the number of people receiving the message)
(the default value for SIGCHI lists)
- no
- no acknowledgement is sent to the poster
|
| Confidential=
| Controls whether the list appears on the list of lists.
(the default value for SIGCHI lists is "No" - not confidential)
|
| Notify=
| Determines whether (and to whom) subscriptions and deletions are sent.
- Yes
- Inform the list owner of changes
(this option might be the default for more established lists,
but would produce a lot of mail for new lists)
- No
- Do not inform the list owner
(the default for SIGCHI lists)
- address
- Inform the person at address
|
| Files=
| No
|
| Mail-Via=
| Distribute
|
| Validate=
| Specifies whether list commands must be validated
(the default for SIGCHI lists is Noi,
but this policy may change if there are problems with the lists).
|
| Reply-To=
| Specifies the contents of the Reply-To: field in distributed messages.
- List
- Not recommended because it invariably leads to
people accidentally replying to the entire list,
a source of annoyance for many people.
- Sender
- Reply to the message sender.
(the default for SIGCHI lists)
- Respect/Ignore
- Specifies whether the sender's Reply-To: field
should be respected or ignored.
(the default for SIGCHI lists is Respect)
|
| Review=
| Determines who can Review the List
- Public
- Anyone can review the list.
(the default for SIGCHI lists)
- Private
- Only list subscribers can review the list.
- Owner
- Only list owners can review the list.
|
| Send=
| Determines who can Send to the List
- Public
- Anyone can send messages to the list.
(the default for SIGCHI lists)
- Private
- Only list subscribers can send mail to the list.
- Editor
- Only a designated editor can send to the list.
- Owner
- Only list owners can send to the list.
|
| Stats=
| Indicates whether stats for the list are maintained and who can access them.
- Normal/None
- By default, normal stats are kept.
- Access level
- Private (the default), Public, Owner, ...
|
| X-Tags=
| Yes
|
| Default-Options=
| The Default Options for New Subscribers.
(The defaults for SIGCHI lists are: NoFiles,Repro,Ack)
- NoFiles
- Files=No
- Repro
- Subscribed senders get a copy of their message.
Subscribers can SET NOREPRO.
- Ack
- Subscribed senders get an acknowledgement of their message.
Subscribers can SET NOACK.
|
