List owners might want to have a look at this Internet Draft on headers for mailing lists. There's no official IETF working group for it, but there is a mailing list (see below). Chances are good that a future version of this draft will become an Internet Proposed Standard. To: [log in to unmask] Reply-to: [log in to unmask] Subject: I-D ACTION:draft-costales-subscribe-01.txt Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 09:04:14 -0400 ------Included Message--- A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories. Title : E-Mail Headers to Facilitate Mailing List Subscriptions and Unsubscriptions Author(s) : B. Costales Filename : draft-costales-subscribe-01.txt Pages : 4 Date : 1997-08-19 The number of ways to subscribe-to (and to unsubscribe-from) e-mail mailing lists is as varied as the number of programmers designing mailing list software. For some lists, for example, users (un)subscribe by sending a request to <listname>[log in to unmask] For others lists the address is [log in to unmask] with the request to (un)subscribe embedded in the message body. Yet others set up special hosts to satisfy this need, such as <listname>@list-off.domain. In this Internet Draft we offer two new e-mail headers intended to make mailing list subscription and unsubscription easier and more uniform: List-Subscribe and List-Unsubscribe. Internet-Drafts are available by anonymous FTP. Login wih the username "anonymous" and a password of your e-mail address. After logging in, type "cd internet-drafts" and then "get draft-costales-subscribe-01.txt". A URL for the Internet-Draft is: ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-costales-subscribe-01.txt Internet-Drafts directories are located at: Africa: ftp.is.co.za Europe: ftp.nordu.net ftp.nis.garr.it Pacific Rim: munnari.oz.au US East Coast: ds.internic.net US West Coast: ftp.isi.edu Internet-Drafts are also available by mail. Send a message to: [log in to unmask] In the body type: "FILE /internet-drafts/draft-costales-subscribe-01.txt". NOTE: The mail server at ds.internic.net can return the document in MIME-encoded form by using the "mpack" utility. To use this feature, insert the command "ENCODING mime" before the "FILE" command. To decode the response(s), you will need "munpack" or a MIME-compliant mail reader. Different MIME-compliant mail readers exhibit different behavior, especially when dealing with "multipart" MIME messages (i.e. documents which have been split up into multiple messages), so check your local documentation on how to manipulate these messages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ List Specification Working Group [log in to unmask] <http://arpp.carleton.ca/listspec/mail/> QUICK INSTRUCTIONS To post a message to the list (all subscribers) send it to [log in to unmask] To "subscribe" to or "unsubscribe" from the list, send a message to [log in to unmask] with the subject set to one of the commands: subscribe or unsubscribe _______________ ABOUT THIS LIST This is a discussion list specifically for discussing methods for identifying and describing electronic mailing list commands. Please review the full discussion document before posting to this list. <http://arpp.carleton.ca/listspec/> _____________________ DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS Please read the list guidelines (see below) before engaging in discussion. In addition, familiarize yourself with how the list operates, especially if you've never participated in an Internet email discussion group before. It's a good idea to save this message somewhere so you know how to unsubscribe. When dealing with a listserver, there are two types of messages, namely, COMMANDS and POSTS. Unlike traditional listservers which require the use of numerous email addresses, we have simplified the process by allowing for both both COMMANDS and POSTS to be sent to the same address. COMMANDS These e-mail messages are intended to cause some action to occur, such as subscribing the FROM address to a mailing list. Commands are usually one or two word phrases which should be entered in the SUBJECT field of the message. Any other fields are ignored... it doesn't matter what you put in them. The following commands are accepted: subscribe adds your e-mail address to the list of subscribers you will then receive all posts you are then allowed to post from that address unsubscribe removes your e-mail address from the list of subscribers you will no longer receive any posts you are no longer allowed to post subscribe digest switches you to digest mode you will then receive one message per day which lists all posts to switch back, send a "subscribe" command digests returns a list of digests for the past 30 days along with instructions for retreiving them via e-mail (currently not working, so instead you should use: <http://arpp.carleton.ca/listspec/mail/#Digest>) help this message will be returned POSTS Email messages which don't match any commands are distributed to everyone on the list. Every time you post a message, hundreds of other people on the list receive a copy, just as if you sent it to them personally. As a member of the list, you will receive a copy of every message anyone else sends. On this list, only members of the list can post to it. If you have problems using the list, you can contact the coordinator by writing to [log in to unmask] (Grant Neufeld).