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Guide for New Mailman List Owners

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If you are new to Mailman list management, this page is for you. It outlines those things you should know in order to get started.

Establish Your List

 If you have not yet established your Mailman list, you can request one by submitting the approprate Mailman List Request Form.

Review List Configuration

 Once you have your list set up, you may want to see exactly how it's configured, that is, take a look how it's set up, and what options are set. To review your list's configuration settings, go to
https://mailman.u.washington.edu/mailman/admin/listname
where listname is replaced with the actual name of your list. For example, if the name of your list is uwsports, you would go to
https://mailman.u.washington.edu/mailman/admin/uwsports
Click on the "log in" link to log in with your UW NetID and password.

Once you are logged on to the administration site for your list, you should see the Configuration Categories at the top of the page.

There are also some sub-categories for Membership Management and Privacy Options that can be accessed when you enter each of those categories. Browse through each of the available configuration screens to become familiar with the configuration options. Click on each option for more information. The Overview of List Configuration Options gives you additional information. Feel free to email help@u.washington.edu if you have any questions.

Get the List Ready for Use

Once you have familiarized yourself with your list's configuration and options, you will want to set up an info file, welcome message, and goodbye message. All of these options can be found in the General Options section of the administration pages.

  • Info file

    The info file should be a brief introductory description about the list. It will be included at the top of your list's information page at

    http://mailman.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/listname
    where listname is replaced with the actual name of your list.

  • Welcome message

    The welcome message will be added to the generic welcome message from Mailman and will be sent to all new subscribers if you choose that option. See the welcome_msg and send_welcome_msg settings.

  • Goodbye message

    The goodbye message is similar to the welcome message except that, as its name implies, it is sent to subscribers who are leaving the list. See the goodbye_msg and send_goodbye_msg settings.

Subscribe Yourself

 When you establish a Mailman list, you are not automatically added as a subscriber. This means that you must subscribe yourself if you want to receive messages that are posted to the list. To add yourself to your list, go to the Membership Management section of your list's administration pages and choose the Mass Subscription category. Now is a good time to test your welcome message so make sure that the "Send welcome messages to new subscribers" option is marked "Yes" and put your address in the box. If you are just subscribing yourself, you probably don't need to send a notification of the new subscription to the list owner so you can mark that option "No". When finished, don't forget to click on the "Submit Your Changes" button.

Of course, you do not need to subscribe yourself to your list if you do not want to. Keep in mind, however, that some lists are configured to only allow subscribers to post messages. If you are an owner of such a list and do not subscribe yourself, your posts will not be accepted by the list. See the "Why are messages from the list owner moderated?" FAQ for more information.

Get Subscribers

 As you might imagine, mailing lists need subscribers to be worthwile. How you get them will depend on what your list is for. If it is for a class or small group of people, then you can probably tell people about the list in class, email them, or even add them yourself. Learning how to add subscribers is easy.

If your list is intended for a larger body of subscribers, you might want to post information about your list to a Usenet newsgroup, or mention it on a Web page.

Subscribers will generally want to know the following information:

  • Name of the list
  • Purpose of the list
  • Restrictions on the use of the list
  • How to subscribe
  • How to unsubscribe

You're Set!

 Once you've done the above, that's pretty much it. The only times you'll really need to be active as a list owner are: To learn how to deal with these issues, click on the related links. These subjects, as well as others, are all covered in Maintaining a Mailman List. And if all else fails, you can send email to help@u.washington.edu as a last resort.

Enjoy your list!