Last Updated on Sept. 20, 2007
This page includes information about Listserv as implemented at Syracuse University and outlines policies and responsibilities.
Hosting Policies
Listserv Listserv Policies at Syracuse University
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Hosting
Listserv® by Lsoft is administered and supported by Information Technology and Services at Syracuse University for the benefit of the University community. Members of this community may create and/or own a listserv Listserv list, provided they comply with the following policies:1.
- The list must serve an academic, administrative or social function that relates to some aspect of the University and the University community of students, faculty and staff. Lists that primarily serve external constituents and show no connection to SU will not be supported here.
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- At least one of the local owners must be a Syracuse University email address.
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- The person requesting the list must provide adequate information about the purpose of the list, identifying clearly the group of people intended to be served by the list and the role the list will play in supporting the group.
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- Lists that are intended for commercial purposes, such as
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- profiting from a membership fee
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- or for selling goods or services, are not supported at SU.
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- If the list is being requested by a student, a contact who is a staff or faculty member at SU must be designated. The contact should be someone familiar enough with the student group to advise the
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- Listserv Administrator in the event that the owner leaves the University, is no longer reachable, and has not named a successor. The contact should be able to identify a new owner if the list is to be continued. Otherwise the list will be deleted.
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Costs
There is no charge for listserv Listserv services provided at SU. ITS funds the costs of hardware, software, and staff support for this service. We will not host external lists for a fee. There are commercially operated FREE list hosting services that are readily available, including Yahoo Groups, and coollist. There is a catch, however, in that the lists you run there are subject to advertising. If this is unacceptable, then a fee-based hosting service is an alternative. A good one is Lsoft Ease. such Google Groups and Yahoo Groups, which may have functional limitations or include advertising. Fee-based hosting service such as Lsoft Ease are available.
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Owner responsibilities
Manage daily activities of their lists
- Owners are expected to acquire sufficient knowledge and skills in using Listserv commands.
- Owners should be familiar with basic list maintenance functions, such as adding and deleting subscriptions, changing subscription options, and changing the list parameters as needed to keep the list functioning properly.
- Owners should be able to identify and solve simple subscriber problems, such as a discrepancy between a subscription address and a sending address.
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List management functions may be performed by e-mail or through the Web interface. In addition, List Manager ITS maintains help information on the SU listserv Listserv Web page and periodically conducts training workshops for list owners.
Answer list member questions
When subscribers contact List Manager ITS regarding a particular list, that inquiry is first referred to the list owner(s). If a list owner is not able to resolve the issue, then the owner, not the subscriber, should contact List Manager help@syr.edu for assistance.
Establish and maintain list policy
The list owner is responsible for individual list policy -- setting, communicating, and enforcing the rules for discourse participating on the list so that a list can successfully serve its purpose. There are many tools available to list owners for these functions. Read the on-line documentation or e-mail List Manager for assistance.
Delete unused lists
List owners are responsible for deleting lists that are no longer needed (see section on Deleting Lists below).
Maintain a valid, unblocked e-mail address
List owners shall maintain a valid, unblocked e-mail email address. If the owner's e-mail email address becomes non-functional and we can no longer contact the owner, we will remove the owner from the list. If there are no valid owners on a list, we may remove the list.
Note: If an e-mail email address requires some special activity for us to send to it, that address is deemed non-functional. For example, some anti-spam services require new senders to validate their address by going to a Web site or responding to a confirmation e-mailemail. With more than approximately 2,000 - hosted lists on our highly automated list process, we cannot efficiently interact with such addresses. If you have such a service, it is your responsibility to assure that communications from listmgr listmgr@syr.edu and other support addresses are not blocked.
Additional help
A local list called "listowners" is maintained where owners may get help from other SU list owners. In addition, an An Internet-wide list named "lstown-l" covers topics primarily of interest to owners of large lists. You may subscribe to either through http://listservby sending email to listserv@listserv.syr.edu.
List Manager Responsibilities
List Manager has the following responsibilities with the command "sub lstown-l" in the email body.
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ITS/Listserv Administrator Services
ITS provides the following services:
- creates new lists for
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- owners
- deletes unneeded lists upon request from list
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- owners
- notifies list owners about changes to
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- Listserv
- provides introductory documentation for list owners
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- consults with list owners on Listserv functions and
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- problems
- decides on disposition of orphaned lists (owner address no longer valid) by contacting the owner or designated contact for the list for correction or list deletion
- List owners may get
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- support
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- by emailing
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- the ITS Service Center help@syr.edu. The Listserv Administrator will provide backup support to the Service Center.
- Questions from subscribers will be referred to the appropriate list owner.
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List
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Removal
Lists may be removed are targeted for removal if there is no posting activity for six months. The List Manager will normally attempt to contact an owner prior to deletion, but we reserve the right to remove inactive lists without notice. Any two years. A list owner may also request that a list be removed by visiting the Delete List Request Form.
If the a list owner's email address is no longer valid, or the list's owner is consistently unreachable or unresponsive, the list is considered "orphaned" . List Manager and is subject to immediate removal. We will make a reasonable effort, time permitting, to determine if the owner simply changed addresses or has left the University. If the owner cannot be contacted, the sponsor for the list will be contacted to determine whether the list should be deleted or a new owner designated. If the sponsor cannot be located, the list is subject to being deleted summarily. Policy on will be removed.
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Transfer of List Ownership
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The current listowner list owner may transfer list ownership of a list to someone else without the involvement or approval from List ManagerITS. The new owner must meet the requirements and assume the responsibilities of list ownership as outlined above. If the current listowner list owner needs assistance with the transfer, he or she they should contact List Manager the Service Center directly via email to make the request, specifying the name of the list, and the new owner's email address, name, and phone number.
In the event that a listowner list owner has left the University and therefore is no longer available to make this request, and another member of the the group or organization served by the list wishes to assume responsibility for managing the list, the request should come directly from a person of authority regarding the transfer, NOT from the new owner. For a student-owned list, that authority should be a faculty or staff member who serves as a sponsor or advisor adviser to the group. For a staff-owned list, it should be the Manager or Director of the department or organization served by the list.
List Manager ITS will verify that the transfer request is legitimate and notify the new owner when the change has been made. Policy on
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Listserv Owner Inquiries
ITS does not supply who the owner of a list is. You can contact a list owner without knowing their name or email. Send an e-mail to listname-request@listserv.syr.edu (e.g. to reach the owner of the "dabblers" list, send an e-mail to dabblers-request@listserv.syr.edu). You will receive a confirmation email; click on the link in the confirmation, and your email will be sent to the list owner.
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Deleting Lists
Current list owners who no longer have a need for a list should request that the list be deleted . There is a Delete List form available for this purpose. Since only List Manager can delete lists, the form automatically sends the request to List Manager. Submitting the form also (Look for Delete link at http://listserv.syr.edu). Submitting the request causes an email message to be sent to the requester for confirmation. The ; the requester must reply to the message before the list will be deleted by List Manager. Upon deleting the list, List Manager will notify the requester that the request has been fulfilled. . The customer will receive notification when the list has been deleted.
Requests to delete lists that come from someone other than a current listowner list owner will be referred to the current list owner.
If a list has multiple listowners, List Manager may list owners, ITS will normally act on requests from *any* owner, but *may* act with discretion to ensure that all the list owners are in accordance agreement with the request to delete the list.
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List Backup
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All lists are backed up daily. This is includes the list headers (configuration profiles) and the subscriptions, as well as any associated files and archives. Lists will be restored from backup upon request from the listownerIn the case of a catastrophic loss of list information, the List owner can request a best effort to restore information in the backup. The messages that are transacted on a non-archived list are not saved and therefore cannot be restored.
Deleted lists are archived.
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Modifying a List's Archives
The messages of some lists are archived for reference purposes. These archives will not be altered in any way by List Manager. Because modifying archives defeats that purpose (and is also very labor intensive), it is contrary to ITS policy. Requests to make an exception to this policy will be considered, but granted only for legal reasons or when it can be compellingly demonstrated that harm to the University or members thereof will be avoided by doing so. Embarrassment or information thought to be incorrect do not constitute reasons under this policy.
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Violations of Computer Use
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In cases where lists are misused to harass or offend subscribers or otherwise violate acceptable computer use policies, and the owner fails to take effective action, List Manager ITS reserves the right to delete the list. .
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Getting Help
Subscribers and list members should contact their list owner(s) for assistance by emailing <listname-request@listserv.syr.edu>. For example, if the listserv is clocks@listserv.syr.edu, send email to <clocks-request@listserv.syr.edu>.
For support of the information above, contact the ITS Help Desk by calling at 315-443-2677, by emailing help@syr.edu. Further information regarding hours and location can be found on the ITS Service Center page.