A listserv is simply an address that you mail to that will distribute your email to everyone who has subscribed to the list. To send such a broadcast message, and also to receive them, you have to sign up to the list. In addition to this class list we have at SIS listservs for each of the programs, e.g., bsis-l, msis-l, phd-l, and lis-l, each of which can be signed onto in the same way.

Why use a listserv?

The answers to most student questions (the exceptions being anything that has to do with a student's personal situation such as being ill, etc) are of potential use to other students. A listserv is a convenient way for a teacher to get those answers out to everyone in a class. Also, the email sent out by a listserv is likely to reach the class faster than say a web posting since it doesn't depend on students accessing the website. As a result, I will use the listserv to send any important messages that might come up, and am requiring that all students subscribe for that reason. The traffic on class listserves has always been quite reasonable. Please use this listserv for all class related communication with me and the GSA unless the communication is personal, such as arranging a time to meet with one of us. I encourage students to post answers to questions from other students. Its good practice for you, it can provide faster answers than I or the GSA might, and it promotes a sense of community in the class. Of course if the answer is not clear or correct, or if I just have something to add to it, I will post a correction or addition.

As long as the traffic doesn't get too heavy, (which it never has in the past) you may use the listserv for any purpose you like, from soliciting interest in study groups, to posting IS related information, or even placing items for sale or mentioning things of possible general interest to other students. (E.g., a good movie or an ethnic food fest.) Please do not post things of potentially controversial nature including politics, religion, etc. Also, while I am encouraging wide use of the listserv, please do keep in mind the need to be respectful of other people's time. In general, for any listserv you might subscribe to, it is always a good idea to consider whether the post you are about to send really is of possible interest to all or many people on the list. Related to this it is always good manners to post a useful subject line on all email, listserv or not. Examples are: "powerbook for sale", "question re receptive fields", "good movie friday", "forming study group", etc.

How to use a listserv.

All listservs have (at least) two separate addresses. One is to send adminstrative requests such as to subscribe or to unsubscribe. These messages go only to a single entity (almost always software) that is responsible for maintaining the list. The other is to actually send mail to the list that the others on the list will receive. Confusion between these two addresses is a common cause of all kinds of bad feelings on the net as when people repeatedly send unsubscribe requests to the general list population rather than to the administrative address. So keep that in mind. The following instructions are much simpler than they may look. Please use your pitt email account for this since problems with your other accounts might prevent you from getting an important message. If you want to subscribe with multiple email accounts that is OK.

To subscribe to the class listserv:

1. Send an email to is1042dm-l-request@mail.sis.pitt.edu l in these addresses is lower case L not the number 1 (it stands for list).
   • In the body of the message type the word subscribe with no quotes, period or anything else.
   • Leave the header (or subject) of the mail blank.
     
     
2. You will recieve a response from this message that begins "Someone [possibly you] has requested that your email address be added to....."  This is a security measure to ensure that no one else can subscribe you to a list.  You need to respond to this message to confirm that you want to join.  The message has instructions in it about what to do which is this:
   
   
3. Send an email to Majordomo@mail.sis.pitt.edu
   
   
   • This mail should contain the indented line in the message you recieved that begins with "auth".
     This should be in the message part of your message.  In most cases all you need to do is hit the reply button which will send the message to Majordomo with the required line in it, but if that doesn't work, cut and paste the required authentication number by itself in the reply.
   
   
4. You will receive a confirmation and welcome message containing instructions on how to use the list including such useful information as how to get off it eventually. Please save that message someplace.

To mail to the list you don't use the same address as to request a subscription. Instead you mail to is1042dm-l Note that this is the address of the class email address you use to send things to me and to the GSA, followed by hyphen l (lower case L).

Other listservs.

The process for subscribing to other list is exactly the same except for the addresses used. The administrative address for the bsis list is bsis-l-request and the regular address to send posts to that list is simply bsis-l/

Summary:

is1042dm-l-request@mail.sis.pitt.edu          for subscribing etc. to class list
is1042dm-l@mail.sis.pitt.edu                       to send messages to everyone on the list
is1042dm@mail.sis.pitt.edu                         to send questions, assignments, etc. to Dr. Metzler or GSA
bsis-l-request@mail.sis.pitt.edu                  for subscribing etc. to BSIS list
bsis-l@mail.sis.pitt.edu                                to send messages to everyone on the BSIS list

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