How to Use Mailing Lists:
Customizing Your List Subscription - The Set Command

A command many users submit to ListProc after subscribing to a list is set. This allows you to tailor how you receive mail from the list: whether you receive copies of your own messages, whether your list mail comes one message at a time or all together, etc.

Find Out Your Current Settings

Setting Your "Mail" Options

Changing Your List Password

Changing Your E-mail Address

Setting Your "Concealed" Status

The set command has proven to be a point of confusion to many people because of the number of options it offers and their somewhat cryptic format (see the command summary table).

A note about these list settings: Usually, you will be able to make all of the changes described below if you want. However, a list owner may choose to tell ListProc not to allow subscribers to change these settings. If it seems that you cannot change a setting, please contact the owner of the list (by sending an e-mail to listname-request@cornell.edu) in order to determine if the change is permitted. See Getting Help for more details.

Find Out Your Current Setting

To get a list of your current settings for a particular mailing list, send the following command (using the name of a real mailing list in place of "history234-L"), in the body of an e-mail message, to listproc@cornell.edu:

If you're subscribed to multiple lists, send the set command for each one. You can combine these commands into one e-mail message, but be sure to put each command on a separate line.

Setting Your "Mail" Options

There are four mail options from which to choose. Use one of the following forms of the set command to adjust your mail options for a list.

ACK: To receive copies of your own messages whenever you send them to the list, use the ack option ("ack" stands for "acknowledgment"). CIT recommends that you use this option. When you see your own post, you know that it has been sent out to the list.

NOACK: To avoid receiving a copy of your own messages whenever you post them to the list, use the noack option ("noack" stands for "no acknowledgment").

set history234-L mail noack

DIGEST: To have messages from the list grouped into one larger message, instead of being sent one by one, use the digest option.

set history234-L mail digest-nomime

(that's a hyphen between "digest" and "nomime"; do not put any spaces before or after the hyphen)

The digest still gives you the complete text of each message that is sent to the list. Contrary to what the name implies, it does not condense or abridge messages in any way. Instead, you receive groups of postings collected into one e-mail message. ListProc creates digests periodically according to a frequency and size choice made by the list's owner.

Digests reduce the individual number of messages received, but have the drawback of a generic subject line (for example, history234-L Digest 225). If you want to reply to a particular message in the digest, you should delete any others that appear in the text of your message, and also change the subject line before sending the reply.

A somewhat annoying side effect can occur in connection with digests: if the original message contained formatted text, you may see multiple copies of the message (one formatted, another unformatted) in the digest. This is a limitation of the current software.

POSTPONE: To temporarily stop receiving messages from the list, use the postpone option.

set history234-L mail postpone

The postpone command is useful when you will be unable to read e-mail for a while but want to remain subscribed to a list (for example, if you are going on vacation). Alternatively, you could unsubscribe from the list, but then others who want to see who is on the list would not see your name.

To start getting messages from the list again, choose one of the other three mail options: ack, noack, or digest (for example, set history234-L mail ack). You will not receive the messages that were sent to the list while your postpone command was in place, but will begin receiving messages as they are posted..

 

Changing Your List Password

When you subscribe to a new list, you will receive an e-mail message containing information about the mailing list, how to use the list server, and a default password. This is called the "welcome" message.

For now, your list password can only be used when changing your subscribed e-mail address (if that feature is enabled for the particular list). Use the following form of the set command to change your password.

set history234-L password current new

After the name of the list, use the keyword password, and follow it with your current password, then your new one. For example, if the password assigned to you when you subscribed was xxx4yyy9, and you wanted to change it to QU1979ACK:

Note that whenever you are required to give your list password for a command, it must be typed exactly as it was originally; the password is one of the rare instances where a command part is case-sensitive.

Changing Your E-mail Address

When you subscribe to a mailing list, ListProc extracts your e-mail address from your message. Remember that ListProc recognizes you as a valid subscriber by checking the e-mail address on your command against the e-mail address that was recorded when you subscribed. If that address is going to change for some reason, you can reset your subscription address. There are two methods for accomplishing this:

Preferred Method:

1. From your new e-mail address, subscribe to the list.
2. From your old e-mail address, unsubscribe from the list.

Alternative Method:

Use the following form of the set command. After the name of the list, use the keyword address, and follow it with your current list password, then your new address.

set history234-L address password new-address

You must send the command from your original subscription address. Your original address will be replaced with your new address and then ListProc will only recognize mail from your new address.

If your address has changed and you no longer have access to the old address, send e-mail describing the problem to the owner of your list (at listname-request@cornell.edu), and ask that your old address be replaced with your new one. See Getting Help for more information on how to contact your list owner.

Setting Your "Concealed" Status

If you would like to subscribe to a list, but not have your name included on the list of subscribers that other people can request, you will want to "conceal" your subscription. Use the set command with the keyword conceal; add yes or no to be concealed or not, as in the following examples:

set history234-L conceal yes

or

set history234-L conceal no

Please note that using the conceal command does not make you completely anonymous. The list owner will see your name on the subscriber list. In addition, your e-mail address will appear on any messages or replies you post.