Managing Mailing Lists: Majordomo, LISTSERV, Listproc, and SmartList [Paperback]

Alan Schwartz PH.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 8, 1998

Would you like to set up an electronic discussion forum for your customers? Or how about a mailing list to announce meetings of your local hobby group? Email is the universal Internet application, which makes mailing lists an ideal vehicle for creating electronic communities. All you need to run a mailing list is access to a system that is connected to the Internet, a mailing list management software package, and a bit of know-how, which is where this book comes in. Managing Mailing Lists is full of practical information for the list maintainer and system administrator alike.

This book covers four mailing list packages: Majordomo, LISTSERV, Listproc, and SmartList. All of these packages run on UNIX systems; LISTSERV runs on a number of platforms, including Windows NT. If you are a system administrator, Managing Mailing Lists tells you what you need to know to pick a mailing list package and get it up and running on your system. It also offers advice on working with the people who are actually maintaining mailing lists on your system, so that you can give them the support they need to run effective, useful lists.

If you are charged with establishing and running a mailing list, Managing Mailing Lists covers everything you need to know about setting up and maintaining the list, from writing the charter for the list to dealing with bounced messages. Depending on what mailing list software is running on your system, you'll need to work with your system administrator to set up various aspects of the list. This book lays out all the decisions you need to make and tells you what information you need to pass along to the administrator.

Mailing lists offer a great deal of flexibility. For example, you can create a moderated mailing list, so that you can control the content on the list, or you can let anyone post whatever they want, for a more free-form discussion group. You can also exert control over who can subscribe to the list, if you want to limit membership based on certain criteria. You can give your subscribers the option to receive individual messages or message digests and you can archive list postings and make them available to your readership.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Although mailing lists are hardly one of the more glamorous aspects of Internet communications, they remain one of the most useful, effective, and popular methods for group discussions. Many organizations and businesses use them to keep in touch with members and customers. But while mailing lists are simple to use, they can be confusing for newcomers to run.

This comprehensive guide is for anyone who wants to run or manage a mailing list, including the busy system administrator who needs to ensure that user-owned mailing lists run as trouble-free as possible. Schwartz concentrates on Unix systems and software because they are well proven, stable, and free (plus, most mailing lists are based in Unix systems). Discussions of Unix systems and commands can be dry, but Schwartz is thoughtful enough to interject some humorous examples. He covers the technicalities of list operation, including the selection and use of all the leading software. He also goes into the pros and cons of the various strategic questions that list managers must face, such as whether or not a list should be moderated or whether or not to allow nonsubscribers to post to a list. This book will save any new list manager a great deal of time and trouble. -- Elizabeth Lewis

From Library Journal

Mailing lists are one of the oldest forms of Internet communication, available to virtually anyone with an E-mail account. Mailing lists are to Java-enhanced web communities what surface roads are to freeways: they get you where you want to be but not as quickly and with less stress. Mailing lists can be served by a variety of free programs such as ListProc, Majordomo, SmartList, and LISTSERV. Schwartz covers them all in detail, with discussions of moderation, digests, archives, administration, and maintenance. Nothing fancy here, just accurate information in a well-written book. For all collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (March 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156592259X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565922594
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,369,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a Professor in Medical Education and Pediatrics, and do research and teach on how physicians and patients make decisions, and how medical decisions can be improved. I am also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Medical Decision Making from 2013-2017.

In a past life, I'm was Unix systems administration/security consultant, and the former maintainer of PennMUSH, a software package for running text-based virtual worlds.

In both lives, I've had the great good fortune to have a wonderful family, including a young Irish water spaniel, and many friends (including the online ones around the world). In my spare time, I enjoy latin dancing, contract bridge, knitting, fine dining and mixology, and, of course, reading.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great.. useful for new or more experienced list managers September 29, 1998

By David Barr

Format:Paperback

A great book! This book covers both server and list administration for Listproc, Majordomo, SmartList, and LISTSERV Lite. It starts of by covering the basics of an email message and a mailing list, and what mailing list software does. It even covers how you can do some basic mailing list functions with sendmail without using an MLM (Mailing List Manager). While the software this book covers are mostly UNIX-specific, this book is a must-have for anyone wanting to install and run mailing list management software. In one book you can see the different features of the leading UNIX-based MLM's, and get an honest appraisal of their relative strengths and weaknesses. You may have already have decided on one MLM, but this book may change your mind!

Not just for server administrators, this book covers all the issues with respect to managing a mailing list. Learn about how to run a moderated list, or how to offer a digested version of your list. This book is also well laid out -- with multiple "layers". As you read on things are covered in greater detail. The last chapters are an in-depth reference for the commands and features of each MLM covered.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book -- several typos -- indispensible info March 14, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I needed to get a listserver up and running in two weeks... I knew perl and linux... O'Reilly came to the rescue.

Managing Mailing Lists helped me choose the right MLM, install it, and configure it with little to no hassle. I would like to have seen the book focus on majordomo solely, since the others probably have software manuals and are supported by their vendors. But the info was adequate, and the other chapters on LISTSERV, ListProc, and SmartList helped thicken the book up so that it fits nicely on my O'Reilly bookshelf..

The book had quite a few typos, some contradictions, and even some misprints that downright hosed up performance and functionality. But once I got through the installation, I was able to go back and easily spot the errors, as the book does a good job explaining the what's and why's of its code. (if the editor reads this, please contact me for a list of corrections for the next edition)

As far as I know it's the only book on majordomo. With a step by step approach (a simple method I wish more books would follow these days) and great hints and tips (BTW, excellent loop-check script incl.) this book gets a 4/5 from me. Typos on critical info/code knocks a point. Second ed. should remedy that... *-)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite useful! January 1, 2001

By Gerald Ford

Format:Paperback

I bought this book because I needed to familiarize myself with ListProc, Listserve and Majordomo, all 3 of which are used at my University. I got just what I needed. This book covers everything you need to know about these, plus it has some extras which help round out the book. I became convinced that SmartList was useful for my home system, and have installed it, and I also enjoyed some of the articles posted in the book.

My only coplaint about this book was the lack of clarity regarding email headers (which came up pretty often throughout). I supposed I should have read the intro chapter more closely. Still, it really wasn't hard to follow along the book. I enjoyed this book much and can't wait to see the Second Edition. :)