Kavi Help CenterKavi Mailing List Manager Help
| Chapter 8. Ezmlm Email Address Commands | ||
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Part I. Concepts | 
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Table of Contents
KaviŽ Mailing List Manager supports the use of ezmlm email address commands, although some lists do not implement this feature. If your list accepts email commands, you may subscribe and unsubscribe and get information about the list via email.
Depending on access restrictions, you may also be able to retrieve messages from the list's raw mail archives. These messages must be retrieved by message ID.
Back to topTo use email commands, you simply send an email to the appropriate address, called a "command address" because the address works like a command. When the Kavi Mailing List Manager receives an email addressed to a mailbox at one of these command addresses, it automatically responds a certain way.
For instance, you could begin by requesting a list of all available commands. To do this, send an email to the command address <listname-help@example.org>. The Kavi Mailing List Manager automatically knows to send you a list of email address commands.
Remember:
Be sure to send your email commands to the appropriate administrative address instead of the mailing list. Not only is it more effective, it's a good way to avoid getting nasty messages from other list subscribers.
You must confirm all subscription-related requests and prove that you are the owner of the subscribing email account. When you initiate a subscribe or unsubscribe request, an email confirmation request will automatically be sent to the subscribing account. You must confirm the request by replying from the same email address used for the subscription for the requested action to be taken. This protects you and other subscribers from people who might add or delete subscriptions without your permission.
When using email commands, the email subject line and body can be left blank. Once the system reads the command in the To: line it sends the email into a mailbox where it can be processed automatically, so no human reads this email. The one exception is email sent to the listowner (i.e., the real, live human being who "owns" the list).
The following conventions are observed in the sample commands:
- listname
The name of the list.
- username
The username portion of your email account.
- host.tld
The domain name portion of your email account. This may belong to your ISP or to your employer, depending on whether this is a personal or company email account. Your email account takes the form of 'username@host.tld', where '.tld' is a top-level domain such as '.net' or '.com', etc.
- example.org
The domain name of the organization. This may also take the form 'example.com'.
Table 8.1. Email Commands
| Task | Command Address | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Get the list of email commands | <listname-help@example.org> | Responds by sending you an email containing a list of all available commands. |
| Get info | <listname-info@example.org> | Responds by sending you an email containing information about the list. |
| Get FAQ | <listname-faq@example.org> | Responds by sending you an email containing the list's Frequently Asked Questions. |
| Subscribe | <listname-subscribe@example.org> |
Responds by sending you an email asking you to confirm the subscription request. You must send a reply from this same email address before a subscription will be added. This prevents others from subscribing you via email without your permission. This request will add you as a regular subscriber, so you will receive each message sent to the list as a separate email. If you would rather receive messages in digest form, see Subscribe to digest. If you want to subscribe under a different email address, see Subscribe alternate address. |
| Unsubscribe | <listname-unsubscribe@example.org> |
Responds by sending you an email asking you to confirm the request to unsubscribe. You must send a reply from the same email address before the subscription will be removed. This prevents others from unsubscribing you via email without your permission. If you want to unsubscribe a subscription you hold under a different email address, see Unsubscribe alternate address. You can initiate the subscription to another address through this command, but the confirmation request will go to the other account This request only works if you are a regular subscriber, if you are a digest subscriber, see Unsubscribe from digest. You can also unsubscribe by clicking on the 'List-Unsubscribe' link in any list message. |
| Subscribe to digest | <listname-digest-subscribe@example.org> | Responds by sending you an email asking you to confirm the subscription request. You must send this confirmation from this same email address before a subscription will be added. This prevents others from subscribing you via email without your permission. |
| Unsubscribe from digest | <listname-digest-unsubscribe@example.org> |
Responds by sending you an email asking you to confirm the request to unsubscribe. You must send this confirmation from the same email address before the subscription will be removed. This prevents others from unsubscribing you via email without your permission. You can also unsubscribe by clicking on the 'List-Unsubscribe' link in any list message. |
| Subscribe alternate address | <listname-subscribe-username=host.tld@example.org> |
You can use this address command to initiate a subscription for a different address than the one from which you send the email containing the command, but the confirmation request will be sent to the account being subscribed before a subscription will be added. This prevents others from subscribing you via email without your permission. The command begins with the familiar 'listname-subscribe' command address described previously, but you also need to provide the address of the alternate account. Just add a hyphen and your address (substituting an equal sign ('=') instead of an at sign ('@')) after the command. |
| Unsubscribe alternate address | <listname-unsubscribe-username=host.tld@example.org> |
You can use this address command to cancel a subscription that is sent to a different address than the one from which you send the unsubscribe command, but the confirmation request will be sent to the account being unsubscribed before the subscription will be terminated. This prevents others from unsubscribing you via email without your permission. The command begins with the familiar 'listname-subscribe' command address described previously, but you also need to provide the address of the alternate account. Just add a hyphen and your address (substituting an equal sign ('=') instead of an at sign ('@')) after the command. |
| Get archived messages by number | <listname-get.123_145@example.org> | To get archived messages, use the command listname-get. Just add a period ('.') and a range of numbers representing the IDs of the messages you'd like to see, using an underscore ('_') as a delimiter. A maximum of 100 messages can be retrieved per request. The Mailing List Manager would respond to the above command by returning an email containing messages 123 through 145 (a total of 23 messages). |
| Get archive index | <listname-index.123_456@example.org> | To get a subject and author index of the archived messages retrieved in by the previous command, use the command listname-index, adding a period ('.') and the range of message IDs you'd like to have indexed, using an underscore ('_') as a delimiter. A maximum of 100 messages can be indexed per request. The Mailing List Manager would respond to the above command by returning an email containing a subject and author index for messages 123 through 145. |
| Get archived messages by subject | <listname-thread.12345@example.org> | To get all messages that have the same subject as a particular message, use the command listname-index, adding a period ('.') and the message ID. The Mailing List Manager would respond to the above command by returning an email containing all messages with the same subject as message 12345. |
| Send email to listowner | <listname-owner@example.org> | If you need to get in touch with the human owner of this list, send an email to this address. This is the one command where you want to include a subject and message (body) for your email. |
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| Chapter 7. How to Moderate a Mailing List |  |
Chapter 9. What You Need to Know About Spam |