Sympa List Service - Creating a new mailing list

What types of list can I set up?

You can set up a mailing list for discussions and announcements for the following groups of people:

  • Departmental staff
  • Students doing a particular course
  • Student societies or similar
  • Students of a particular nationality
  • Research or special interest groups within the university
  • Ditto for people in a wider area, provided one or more of the most active members or owners are based in Newcastle
  • People involved with a specific activity, such as a conference

Who can set up a list?

You don't need to be a computing expert to run a list, but you should be familiar with e-mail and the Web. You must also have enough time and the enthusiasm to manage the list, and it is essential that you are a member of Newcastle University.

So how do I set up a list?

  1. Firstly you need to log in to the web interface.
  2. Click on the Create List link from the menu bar along the top of the right-hand portion of the screen.
  3. The list creation form will appear on the right-hand portion of the screen - fill in the required values (e.g. the list's name, description etc) - there are notes on the form to help you.
  4. Choose a list type.There are four basic list types available on the web interface :
    discussion list
    This is a list where both owners and subscribers may post to the list. Subscription is open to the public (i.e. anyone can join). An archive of the list discussions is privately accessible on the web interface.
    moderated list
    This type of list allows only members to post. All messages to the list, however, n eed to be approved by a moderator (in the absence of a moderator, the listowner will receive th e messages for moderation). Subscription is open to the public (i.e. anyone can join). An archive of the list discussions is privately accessible on the web interface.
    private list
    Commonly referred to as a 'closed' list, this is a list where only owners and subscribers may post to the list. Subscription is controlled (ie. subscribers have to ask the listowner to join). A web archive is available but is only accessible by list subscribers after logging in to the web interface.
    restricted subscription
    This is a list where subscription is controlled, and only owners/members may post, and the web archive is privaely accessible to members. .
    These four basic list types should suffice in most cases. If you wish to set up something more specific to your requirements (e.g. a partially-moderated list where only messages from non-members are sent for moderation), then it is possible to 'fine-tune' your list. Select one of the above four list types that most closely matches your proposed configuration, then, you can modify your list configuration further by setting various list configuration parameters. These are accessible by clicking the Admin link on the left hand menu after the initial list creation.
  5. Click the Submit your creation request button at the bottom of the form.

Note: The name you choose for your list will be typed every time a message is posted. Often, people choose to use common abbreviations in their name in order to keep it relatively short. Choose the name carefully.

Your list will be unusable (and will not appear on the web interface homepage) until the listmaster validates it. You will receive email confirmation usually within one working day.

NOTE: You need to allow at least a working day for a new list to be made active. Before a list can be activated, it has to be validated by the listmaster (a person) and then the list's address has to be registered on the University's mail systems. This is an overnight process and therefore you are advised to request new lists with reasonable advance notice - you shouldn't be disappointed if a list requested around the end of the working day is not use-able first thing in the morning.