How to Use Mailing Lists:
Obtaining Information about Lists

Information about Particular Lists - The Info Command

What Lists Are You Subscribed to - The Which Command

Who's Who on the List - The Review Command

What Lists Are Available

Information about Particular Lists - The Info Command

To learn more about a particular list, you can request information about the purpose of the list, who may join, what should be posted, etc. This information is provided by the list owner.

Once you have the name of one or more lists that look interesting, you can send a command to listproc@cornell.edu for details. For example:

If you want to see information on multiple lists, type each info command on a separate line. You do not need to belong to a list in order to receive this information about the list.

What Lists Are You Subscribed to - The Which Command

To see a list of the mailing lists on the CIT List Server to which you are subscribed, send the following to listproc@cornell.edu:

• a blank line
• which

There are no options with this request; it is sent as a blank line and a single word. (The blank line is a work-around so this command will get past Cornell's virus filters. We're not sure why it's necessary - we've contacted the vendor - but we know it works.)

This command is particularly useful if you want to unsubscribe from or postpone all of your list mail before leaving town, or if you need to change your e-mail address. Because some lists do not generate a lot of mail, it can be easy to forget about them.

Notes:

The which command returns a list of lists for which ListProc has registered the e-mail address that was in the "From" line of the message you sent to ListProc. If, at some point in the past, you subscribed to a list from some other e-mail address, ListProc will not include that list's name in the results returned by the which command.

Who's Who on the List - The Review Command

To learn more about a mailing list, including who is on it, send e-mail to listproc@cornell.edu. In the body of the message, type the command review, followed by the name of the list. For example:

ListProc will return a summary of how the history234-L list is set up, along with the list of names and e-mail addresses of those on it.

NOTES:

In some cases the list owner will have configured the list so that only people subscribed to the list are allowed to see the list of subscribers.

If you want to join a list but do not want others to know you are subscribed, you can use the conceal option.

A few options can be used with the review command in order to reduce the amount of information received. These options follow the name of the list in the command.

Use the option short or description to get only the short description, and not the entire list of subscribers. For example:

review history234-L short

The subscribers option returns only the non-concealed subscribers list, and not the description.

review history234-L subscribers

What Lists Are Available

To determine the name of a list sponsored/operated by a particular department, class, or organization, contact that group or visit their website.

CIT has disabled a ListProc command that provides a list of all of the list names managed by a list server. This decision was made after reviewing the command's usefulness and the potential for abuse. When this command is enabled - allowing anyone to easily obtain a directory of most of the mailing lists supported by the CIT List Server - it is quite simple for someone to post inappropriate messages to many lists simultaneously, or to collect individual e-mail addresses for marketing or other purposes. We do not anticipate making this command active, but will review this decision if the situation warrants.