Sympa List Service - Unsubscribing from mailing lists

How do I unsubscribe from a Sympa mailing list?

To unsubscribe from a list, you can either :

  • Send an email message to sympa@newcastle.ac.uk . (This needs to be done from the e-mail address that you are subscribed with). In either the Subject: line or in the body of the message (it doesn't matter which) [*], you should type :
    UNSUBSCRIBE listname
    where listname is the name of the list you wish to leave. If your mail client adds a signature to the end of your messages, you should place a QUIT command at the end of the message. For example : 
    From: "Joe Bloggs" <joe.bloggs@newcastle.ac.uk>
To: sympa@newcastle.ac.uk
Subject: 
    
UNSUBSCRIBE newusers 
QUIT
    [*] Note : users of some webmail-based services (eg. hotmail) may experience problems when submitting a command in the Subject: header - in this case you are advised to submit the command in the message body as per the above example.
  • Log in to the web interface. Find the list you wish to leave, and click on "unsubscribe".

Note : Please do not use the 'Report Spam' (or equivalent) function in your web mail system (eg. AOL) as an alternative to unsubscribing from a list. This will not have the effect of removing you from the list, but will result in mail from the University as a whole being refused by your provider if enough reports are made.

Note also : Do not be tempted to mail the list asking to unsubscribe. Try and contact the list's owners first. You can always contact the owners of a list by emailing the address listname-request@newcastle.ac.uk (where listname is the name of the list you are wishing to leave).

If you are still having a problem with unsubscribing, then contact helpline@newcastle.ac.uk.

 

Why can't I unsubscribe from a specific list?

If you cannot leave a particular list, even though you have sent an unsubscribe command, and didn't receive an error, then it's likely that the list in question is driven from an external data source (ie. a database, or an LDAP directory). If you wish, you can contact helpline@newcastle.ac.uk to have this checked out.