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FAQe-mail: e-mail Lists

Calvin is moving from Majordomo to Mailman for managing non-course mailing lists (listserv) at Calvin.
  • Faculty and staff members are automatically subscribed to Calvin News, Calvin SOS, and CIT Alert.
  • Students are automatically subscribed to Student News and Student Alert.
  • All of these lists are archived at http://www.calvin.edu/archive
  • To request a non-course mailing list please complete the Mailing List request form.

Major mailing lists

Calvin News comes out at least once a day and is intended for general news items related to Calvin College faculty and staff. To have a message posted to Calvin News send email to calvin-news@calvin.edu (Plain Text only).

Student News comes out at least once a day and is intended for general news items related to Calvin College students. This list is managed by Student Life. To have a message posted to Student News send email to student-news@calvin.edu (Plain Text only).

Calvin SOS comes out only when necessary. It is used to notify the Calvin community of items which are of an emergency nature only. Examples of appropriate messages might be deaths, weather warnings, etc.

CIT Alert / Student Alert comes out only when necessary to alert faculty, staff and students computer or telecommunication outages, planned outages or other problems. CIT manages this list.

FAQ  FAQs

Questions? Please contact the CIT HelpDesk at helpdesk@calvin.edu or call 6-8555

How do I manage a Majordomo email list?

How do I send a message to a mailing list?
To send a message to a majordomo mailing list send email to the list-name@calvin.edu. (i.e. calvin-news@calvin.edu). Include a subject and a message.

Most Majordomo mailing lists can handle either Plain Text or HTML formatted messages. Calvin-News and Student-News are the two exceptions. These Majordomo mailing lists can only handle plain text messages. Messages formatted in HTML will be rejected saying "no attachments are allowed". To switch your email to Plain Text, in GroupWise select View > Plain text. If you are using StudentMail click on the Plain Text link on the right side of your formatting bar.

How do I send commands to majordomo?
To send a command to Majordomo send an email message to majordomo@calvin.edu. Leave the subject blank and put the command in the body (message).

Note: In the description of the commands below, items contained in [ ]'s are optional. When providing the item, do not include the [ ]'s around it.

Subscribe  
 
 
 
 
Commands in the "Subject:" line are NOT processed.
 
Commands should be sent in the body (Message) of an e-mail message

How do I subscribe to a list?
Send the following command to majordomo@calvin.edu

subscribe list-name [(address)]
Subscribe yourself (or (address) if specified) to the named (list). Example: subscribe calvin-matters
When you subscribe to a list you will receive an email from majordomo asking to confirm your subscription.

How do I unsubscribe from a list?
Send the following command to majordomo@calvin.edu

unsubscribe list-name [(address)]
Unsubscribe yourself, or (address) if specified, from the named (list).
Example: unsubscribe calvin-matters
When you unsubscribe to a list you will receive an email from majordomo asking to confirm your unsubscription.

What other commands are available?
The following is a list of commonly used Majordomo commands. Owners of mailing lists have additional commands that are available to them. To see all the majordomo commands please submit the help command.

which [(address)]
Returns an email that shows which lists you, or (address) if specified, are on.
Example: which

who list-name
Returns an email that shows who is on a specific list
Example: who calvin-matters

lists
Returns an email that show all the lists served by this Majordomo server. Only the public lists are returned.
Example: lists

help
Returns an email with all the help commands available with Majordomo.
Example: help

end
Stop processing commands (useful if your mailer adds a signature).
Example: end

Can I combine commands?
Yes, you can also combine commands . For example:
Commands

This message will:

1. Subscribe you to calvin-matters.

2. Find out what lists you are on.
 

If you have any questions or problems, please contact helpdesk@calvin.edu