LISTSERV

LISTSERV is the mailing list software used to manage university email lists for discussion, marketing, distribution, and announcements.

Need a new mailing list?

Request a Google Group instead! A Google Group acts as both a traditional mailing list as well as a message archive stored on the web, and has replaced LISTSERV for manually-managed mailing lists as of January 1, 2020.

Getting started

You may perform subscription management tasks by sending an email to listserv@lists.ualr.edu with one or more of the following commands in the message body. List subscribers and owners may also use the web application to manage list subscriptions and configurations.

Subscriber tasks

Before you subscribe to campus-wide discussion lists such as FACFOCUS, please review the university’s policy on campus-wide discussion lists.

Subscribe yourself to a public list
  1. From the email account you wish to subscribe, compose a new email to listserv@lists.ualr.edu. Do not put anything in the subject line.
  2. Clear the message body (i.e., remove your signature) and put the following command in the message body:

    subscribe LISTNAME your_first_name your_last_name

    Example: subscribe FACFOCUS Jane Doe

Unsubscribe yourself from a public list
  1. From the subscribed email account, compose a new email to listserv@lists.ualr.edu. Do not put anything in the subject line.
  2. Clear the message body (i.e., remove your signature) and put the following command in the message body:

    signoff LISTNAME

    Example: signoff FACFOCUS

List owner tasks

These commands allow list owners to manage subscribers, but other list configuration tasks require the web application to perform.

Add subscriber to a list
  1. From the list owner email account, compose a new email to listserv@lists.ualr.edu. Do not put anything in the subject line.
  2. Clear the message body (i.e., remove your signature) and put the following command in the message body:

    add LISTNAME subscriber_email_address

    Example: add MYLIST jxdoe@ualr.edu

Remove subscriber from a list
  1. From the list owner email account, compose a new email to listserv@lists.ualr.edu. Do not put anything in the subject line.
  2. Clear the message body (i.e., remove your signature) and put the following command in the message body:

    delete LISTNAME subscriber_email_address

    Example: delete MYLIST jxdoe@ualr.edu

View current subscribers and list settings
  1. From the list owner email account, compose a new email to listserv@lists.ualr.edu. Do not put anything in the subject line.
  2. Clear the message body (i.e., remove your signature) and put the following command in the message body:

    review LISTNAME

    Example: review MYLIST

Academic course lists

Each academic course section has a mailing list automatically created at the beginning of each semester. The lists are named using the course subject code, course number, and section number. Mailing lists for multiple course sections cannot be merged.

Assigned instructors and registered students are automatically added as subscribers to each course list. Lists are closed so that only subscribers may post to them.

Instructors are automatically set to be list owners, allowing changes to the behavior and configuration of a course list. However, the list of subscribers may not be changed as automatic updates to list subscribers occur hourly.

Examples of academic course lists
Course List name
Rhetoric and Writing 1300 section 10 RHET130010@ualr.edu
Rhetoric and Writing 7310 section 1 RHET731001@ualr.edu
Rhetoric and Writing 5307 section 999 RHET5307999@ualr.edu

Eligibility

Anyone with an email address can be a list subscriber as well as a list owner. List subscribers and owners may also use the web application to manage list subscriptions and configurations.

Current students and employees may log in with their Active Directory credentials, while community members may register a password with their personal email addresses.

Support

If you need help with a mailing list, contact the assistance center.