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Mailing Lists

Two kinds of mailing lists: servers, and personal address books

This page is about the Simmons mailing list server, used for long lists of email addresses, and allowing either announcement or discussion-type communication.  For instructions on creating a personal email list within your email software, see the guide to your email software's address book.

The Simmons Mailing List Server

The Simmons mailing list server enables individuals to send email to a targeted group of people.  The mailing list can be used as a forum for discussion by the members of the list. It can also be used to post messages by select people to a group.  There are some benefits to using a mailing list hosted on the server rather than a personal address book mailing list. These benefits include:

• The list membership can be managed from a webpage by the list owner(s).
• Messages can be moderated in order to keep the list discussion appropriate.
• The mailing list can be configured to allow anyone to subscribe (non-Simmons email addresses included) or remain private to a select group of people.
• Archives of messages are kept on the server.
• Email sent to the list will appear as being addressed to a single email address rather than containing numerous recipient addresses.

Requesting A Simmons Mailing List

To request a mailing list, contact the Help Desk via email and provide them with the following information:

• What email address you would like for the mailing list (i.e. list.address@simmons.edu)
• What Simmons email address should be used as the list owner (see below for instructions for administering a mailing list)
• Description of the type of mailing list you need, using the following categories as a guide:
• Announcement (communication is one-way), discussion (members of the list can correspond with one another), or open (anyone can post to the list: not recommended!).
• Moderated or not moderated.  If the list is moderated, people who are assigned as moderators have sending privileges and can approve posts sent by either non-members or non-moderators.
• Replies directed back to the sender, or back to the mailing list.
• Subscription: open or closed.  You can allow people to subscribe themselves to the mailing list either online, or via email.  Or, you can restrict the list membership so that it can only be populated by the list owner, and any requests for subscriptions would have to be approved by the owner.

Administering a Mailing List

To log into the administrative website of a mailing list you must be the owner or moderator of the list. Enter the following URL in your web browser:  http://lists.simmons.edu/lists/admin/listname.  Replace listname with the name of the mailing list. You will then need to login using your Simmons email address and password.

Once you are logged in, you can approve or reject requests to post messages to the list. Click the 'Moderate' tab to view the list of pending requests.

The owner of the list has additional privileges. The owner can update the list membership or add additional moderators.

• To update the list membership, click the 'Subscribers' tab. The list of subscribed members will display.
• To delete a member, click the checkbox next to the member's address and then click the 'Delete selected email addresses' button.  A removal notification will be sent to the deleted member. Check the 'quiet' option first to avoid sending a notification.
• To add a member,  enter the  member's email address in the  field next to the 'Add' button. Click 'Add' to add the member to the mailing list. A subscription notification will be sent to the new member. Check the 'quiet' option first to avoid sending a notification.
• You can also add multiple members at a time. Click the 'Multiple add' button to display a large field for adding multiple addresses.  Enter one address per line (avoid using commas), or copy and paste a set of addresses (again, one per line, and avoid using commas). Click the 'Add subscribers' button to add all of the new members to the list. Check the 'quiet' option first to avoid sending a notification.
• To add an additional moderator, click the 'Edit List Config' tab and then click 'List definition'.  Enter the email address of each moderator in the 'Email address' field under the 'Moderator' section. Click 'Update' to update changes. Each moderator can approve and reject pending messages and can also send to the list without approval.