• You must be a current member of the University of Virginia community — student, faculty or staff. We cannot offer lists to people who are not members of the UVa community.
• The list must be related to the mission of the University — lists typically are created for academic, research, and administrative purposes, including lists for student groups that have Chartered Independent Organization (CIO) status.

The easiest way to create a list is by using the Web form.

Lists are created only for members of the UVa community. To use the form, you must appear in the public database that is available through the People Search function on the UVa website.

If you do not appear in the public database or have other difficulty using the form, please send your request for your list to postmaster@Virginia.edu, including the following information needed to create the list:

• List name
• Administrator ID
• List password
• List purpose
• Number of list members

The name space for mailing list names coincides with the UVa Computing ID name space. For this reason list names must begin with four alphabetic characters and names in any of these forms — aa, aaa, aa9z, aa9zz, aaa9zz, and aaa9a — are unavailable.

List names should consist of letters, numbers, and hyphens. Underscores may also be used, but sometimes do not appear well in World Wide Web links.

List names cannot be widely generic within the UVa community. Choose a name that describes the group that will use the list and cannot be interpreted to reflect another group. We will not give, for example, a list name of history to someone in the Math Department who is interested in the history of mathematics.

Departmental lists should include a departmental identifier in the list name.

Class lists should include the Registrar's Course ID. The name needs to be unique to the class, so some qualifier (section number, instructor name, course topic) is often appended to the Registrar's Course ID number.

List names for student groups need to reflect that purposes of the group and avoid being overly broad.

The Mailman list administrator oversees the day-to-day operation of the list and is usually the first point of contact for list members should difficulties with the list arise. This person receives the mail delivery errors for the list and, when needed, works with postmaster to resolve list problems.

• The list password be at least six characters in length.
• The password should contain letters (upper and lower case), one or more punctuation characters, and numbers.
• Characters you may not use include: * ' " % ! # $ ? / \ @ ^ & ( ) + = { } [ ] | : ; < >

The only person needing to know the list password is the Mailman list administrator. If the list has a moderator, the list moderator must know the moderator password.

All mailing lists on ITC computers must be affiliated with the professional, scholarly, and academic endeavors of the students, faculty, and staff of this institution; recreational lists are not created. Activities of student groups that are Contracted Independent Organizations (CIOs — a designation that is given following completion of paperwork through the Student Council are considered to be a part of the academic process and are created). Some student groups, like Student Council, have special status and are also allowed to have lists. Graduate students are considered faculty for those lists that are associated with courses they are teaching.

If the mailing list is for a student group, please tell us whether or not your group is a CIO (lists for students are created for CIO groups only). Graduate students who would like lists for academic discussion groups among their peers, to use in preparation for examinations, etc., need to specify these types of activities as the purpose of the list when the list is created.

We recommend UVaCollab lists for class lists. If this request is for a class list that you want created as a Mailman list, remember to include a statement that you are aware of the UVaCollab option for class lists but prefer a Mailman mailing list for your class at this time.

The number of people who will be members of the list (estimates are fine).

To delete a Mailman mailing list at the University of Virginia, send an electronic mail message to postmaster@Virginia.edu and provide the postmaster with:

• the name of the list, and
• request for deletion.

Note: if you are not the administrator of the list, the postmaster will want to know why you are making this request and what authorization you have to close the list.

To subscribe one or more members, you must:

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Click on the Membership Management link.
3. Click on the link for Mass Subscription.
4. Set Subscribe these users now or invite them? to Subscribe.
5. Set Send welcome messages to new subscribers? to Yes.
6. Set Send notifications of new subscriptions to the list administrator? to No.
7. After the words Enter one address per line below... enter one email address per line, or select a location for a text file to upload, formatted with one address per line (note that @virginia.edu is automatically appended to IDs with no domain specified).
   
   Each address should appear on a separate line, as in:
   
   
   mst3k
   tomjefferson@ntelos.net
   marthajefferson@aol.com
   
   
8. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
9. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

Mailman will add the IDs to your list and display them on the Web page when it has finished. Should you want a record of the IDs added, you would need to highlight the IDs on the Web page, copy them, and paste them into a file where you want to store them. Remember that if you have selected "yes" (on the Initial Options page) for the list administrator to receive notices of subscribes and unsubscribes, you will receive one email message for each ID added to your list.

You can include the names of Mailman list members as well as their email IDs when subscribing them.

Although Mailman has the ability to manage automatically membership for list members whose IDs cease to work, at times you may need to explicitly remove one or more IDs from your list.

• Removing one or a few members
• Removing a large number of members
• Removing all members

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Click on the Membership Management link.
3. Locate the members whom you wish to unsubscribe in the table of members, and check the box in the unsub column for each member you are unsubscribing.
4. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
5. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

Mailman will remove the IDs from your list and display them on the Web page when it has finished. Should you want a record of the IDs removed, highlight the IDs on the Web page, copy them, and paste them into a file where you want to store them. Remember that if you have selected "yes" (on the Initial Options page) to receive a notice of subscribes and unsubscribes, you will receive one email message for each ID removed from your list.

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Click on the Membership Management link.
3. Click the option for Mass Removal.
4. After the words Enter one address per line below... enter one email address per line, or select a location for a text file to upload, formatted with one address per line (note that @virginia.edu is automatically appended to IDs with no domain specified).
   
   Each address should appear on a separate line, as in:
   
   
   mst3k
   tomjefferson@ntelos.net
   marthajefferson@aol.com
   
   
5. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
6. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Go to the General Options page.
3. Set Should administrator get notices of subscribes and unsubscribes? to No.
4. Click the Submit Your Changes button.
5. Go to the Privacy Options page.
6. Set Show member addresses so they're not directly recognizable as email addresses? to No.
7. Click the Submit Your Changes button.
8. Click the Go to the general list information page link found on the right side under Other Administrative Activities (may require authentication).
9. Click the Visit Subscriber List button.
10. Highlight and copy the IDs displayed in the Subscriber list.
11. Click the link at the bottom of the page labeled list_name administrative interface (requires authorization) (the name of your list will appear where list_name is shown in the given link).
12. Click on the Membership Management link.
13. Go to the Mass Removal page.
14. Paste the IDs into the box.
15. Click the Submit Your Changes button to complete the unsubscription of the IDs.
16. Remember to re-set the Privacy Options page and set Show member addresses so they're not directly recognizable as email addresses? to Yes.
17. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
18. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

Mailman lists are created with the following initial configuration:

• anyone who knows the name of a list can subscribe themselves to it by visiting the list information page.
• anyone can obtain a listing of all email addresses on a list by visiting the list information page.
• anyone can send a message to all members of the list.

List administrators can change these configurations via the list administration website for your mailing list.

We recommend that all new list administrators access their list administration website and first use the Initial Options page to set the basic configuration options for their list.

In addition to the changes you may want to make from the Initial Options page, there are a multitude of other list configuration changes that list administrators can make. As some can have unanticipated consequences, we recommend that you make only those changes in configuration that are needed for your list.

Note: should you, as list administrator, request notices of subscribes and unsubscribes for your list, you will receive a notice for each ID, even when you are doing mass subscriptions/deletions.

The membership of some lists must be protected. For example, should you create a Mailman list for a class, FERPA requires that you configure the list so that no one (even the students in the class) can see the class roll (list membership). After the list has been created, you can hide the list membership by:

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Click Privacy Options.
3. Click Subscription Rules.
4. Set Who can view subscription list to List admin.
5. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
6. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Select Initial options.
3. Add or update text in the Introductory description field.
4. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
5. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Scroll to the Privacy Section of Initial Options.
3. Set What steps are required for subscription? to Require approval -or- Confirm and approve.
4. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
5. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Scroll to the Privacy Section of Initial Options.
3. Set Who can view subscription list? to List members -or- List admin only (default is Anyone).
4. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
5. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

See Moderation page for detailed instructions on setting up a moderated Mailman mailing list.

To create a spam filter:

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Click on Privacy options.
3. Click on Spam filters.
4. Look under the heading Header filters.
5. In the Spam Filter Regexp: text box, type ^X-Spam-Level: xxxx.
6. Click the Hold radio button, that is listed under the Spam Filter Regexp: text box.
7. Click the Submit Your Changes button.

Email messages sent to a members-only mailing list by approved senders or unmoderated members will be distributed immediately to all list members. All other messages sent to a members-only list are held until a list administrator or a list moderator reviews and decides how to dispose of them. The list administrator will need to update the membership list each time a member subscribes or unsubscribes.

To make your mailing list a members-only list:

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Select Initial options.
3. Set What to do with non-listmember email to Hold.
4. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
5. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.

Note: for a members-only list, the address subscribed to the list must match exactly the address in the From: line of the message to the list for a message to be distributed automatically to all list members. If a person uses multiple email accounts or email clients and their address appears in differing ways depending on which account/client they are using, you can subscribe one ID for the person to the list using the normal add list member process and then enter a "regular expression" that will tell Mailman to accept their other possible addresses. Follow these steps outlined in the moderation section of the mailing list documentation.

To archive your Mailman mailing list, after your list has been created, send an email message to postmaster@Virginia.edu and provide postmaster with:

• the name of your list
• a request that the list be archived

Considerations:

• If you are not the administrator-of-record for the list, postmaster will want to know what authority you have to make this request.
• While archiving can be put into place at any time, only those messages that are sent to the list after the archive function has been enabled will be stored in the Mailman message archive for the list.
• There is no way to edit an archive for a list.
• There is no way to copy an archive to another storage media: the Mailman archive is available only through Mailman.
• If a list archive consumes large amounts of disk storage space, we will notify the list administrator that we are going to remove the messages for the earliest year of the archive. All messages for that year will be deleted. Should permanent storage for all messages to a list be needed, we recommend that a manual archive be created by someone on the list.

By default, senders of messages submitted to a moderated list or messages that meet hold-for-review criteria will receive an automatic email notifying them their message is pending approval before being posted to the list. Changing this setting to No prevents the auto-notification to the sender of any message that is held for review.

To change:

1. Access the list administration website for your mailing list.
2. Click Initial Options.
3. Scroll down to find: Send mail to poster when their posting is held for approval? and Click No.
4. Click the Submit Your Changes button at the bottom of the page.
5. If you have completed your list administration work, remember to click the Logout link and close your browser.