LISTSERV is a proprietary mailing list software, made by L-Soft International, Inc. It is installed on one of GW's UNIX machines, Hermes, and is used to create mailing lists for students, faculty, and staff at GW.

A mailing list is just that - a list of addresses to send email to. They can add and delete subscribers and determine options for the list. Then people (either the owner or everyone on the list) can send email to one address, and have it distributed to everyone on the list.

Occasionally, you will hear a mailing list referred to as a listserv. While this is technically inaccurate, most people will know what you mean if you say that you have "to join a listserv" for a class.

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Point your browser to: http://helpdesk.gwu.edu//policies/listserv.html.

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Any student, student organization, faculty or staff member may be a list owner. Students and student organizations must have a sponsor's approval to create a list. See Creating/Owning A LISTSERV List below for more details.

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Simply send this text in the body of a message (not subject!) to listserv@hermes.gwu.edu:

	subscribe Name-of-the-list  Your-First-Name Your-Last-Name

Please note that your message cannot contain any other text, such as your signature file. Any other text is interpreted as a command, the LISTSERV server will return errors.

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Simply send this text in the body of a message (not subject!) to listserv@hermes.gwu.edu:

	unsubscribe Name-of-the-list

Please note that your message cannot contain any other text, such as your signature file. Any other text is interpreted as a command, the LISTSERV server will return errors.

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Simply send your email to

	name-of-the-list@hermes.gwu.edu 

For example. for a list called "horses", just email

	horses@hermes.gwu.edu.

Be aware that this message will go to everyone on the list! Be sure not to confuse the list address (horses@hermes.gwu.edu - where you send mail to all the people on the horses list) with the listserv address (listserv@hermes.gwu.edu - where you send commands like subscribe, signoff, etc.)

Please note that some lists may not allow everyone to send to the list, but just a select few users (see open or closed lists below).

If you cannot send mail to a certain list, please check with the list owner to see if you are authorized to do so. See the question below on contacting the owner of a list if you don't know who the owner is.

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Generally, you will be invited or instructed to join a list by the list owner (your instructor, a colleague, etc..)

There are several databases on the Web which you may search to find public mailing lists. If you find a list you would like to join, these databases also provide information about how to subscribe. L-Soft International's Cata-List is the official LISTSERV database of public lists. You can search for all public GW lists there as well.

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There are two types of mailing lists, open and closed. Open lists, also known as public lists, permit any user to subscribe. Closed lists allow the list owner to control the list membership. A closed list, controlled by the instructor, would be most appropriate for a class, a committee, or a department.

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If you don't know who that is, you can contact the owner via email by using the -request alias email address:

name-of-the-list-request@hermes.gwu.edu

Be sure to substitute the appropriate list name for name-of-the-list and then add "-request".

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Typically, you should contact the list owner for help using their mailing list. General assistance is also available from the ISS Help Desk (see the bottom of this page for contact information).

ISS Desktop Applications Training offers an Introduction to LISTSERV class. Visit their web page at http://teachme.gwu.edu for schedules and contact information.

Also, check out the additional documentation referenced at the end of this FAQ.

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Please visit http://hermes.gwu.edu and click on "Request A New List".

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If you are the owner of a list and wish to transfer ownership to another person, you can do it by editing your list header and changing the owner (if you know how). If you do not know how to perform this procedure, please e-mail listadm@gwu.edu and request the change in ownership (complete with the new owner's name and e-mail address).

If you are not the owner of the list, please ask the current owner to change the list or make the request to listadm@gwu.edu. If you cannot contact the owner (a staff member who has left the University for example), please contact listadm@gwu.edu directly with your request - in most cases, ITS will require a memo from a department chair to transfer a list in this manner.

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We now recommend utilizing the web-based management interface to manage your LISTSERV mailing list. Please visit http://hermes.gwu.edu and click on "Manage Your Lists".

The web management interface should be relatively self-explanatory. Remember to select the appropriate list to manage from the drop-down box before performing any action.

The GW training handout on LISTSERV for List Owners provides good information on managing your LISTSERV mailing list via the Web. See the additional documentation section below.

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Your LISTSERV password is tied to your email address, but is completely separate from your email password (or any other password). If you do not have a password, or cannot remember it, you can reset it from the Login page (under Manage Your Lists on http://hermes.gwu.edu) by clicking on "get a new password first". You will need to enter your email address and then respond to an email to confirm the password change.

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General assistance is available from the ISS Help Desk (see the bottom of this page for contact information). You can contact the LISTSERV Administrators in ITS directly via e-mail at listadm@gwu.edu for more specialized assistance.

ISS Desktop Applications Training offers a LISTSERV for List Owners class. Visit their web page at http://teachme.gwu.edu for schedules and contact information.

Also, check out the additional documentation referenced at the end of this FAQ.

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The LISTSERV Policy mentioned previously has good information for list owners and users:

• Policy for Establishment and Use of Mailing Lists at GW

ISS Desktop Applications Training provides their course materials (for their Intro to LISTSERV and LISTSERV for List Owners courses) online:

• Introduction to LISTSERV
• LISTSERV for Owners

The LISTSERV software provider (L-Soft International) also maintains extensive LISTSERV documentation on its web site. Here are links to the most relevant documents:

• General User's Guide
• List Owner's Quick Start Manual
• List Owner's Manual

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