MAGNet Mailing List
MAGNet members discuss current topics in campus Macintosh support via an active electronic mailing list.
- Postings to this list are publicly viewable
- Mailing list policy
- Overview of managing your subscription
- Subscribing
- Unsubscribing
- Managing your options
- Sending mail to the list's members
- Viewing archives of messages previously sent to the list
- Common problems and how to solve them
- Contacting a human regarding the list
Postings to this list are publicly viewable
Messages posted to the MAGNet mailing list should be considered to have been made public and world-viewable. While this helps contribute your knowledge and that of the list's other members to the world, this also means these messages can be viewed by your bosses, prospective employers, and people who have known you in the past. Please consider that before posting your own messages to the list.
This mailing list is subscribed to by hundreds of people, including at least a few guest members who are not directly affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley campus. Some of the list's members may choose to forward your messages to others or post them in other publicly viewable places. The archives of the list are also browsable by anyone on the web, and any message posted to the list can potentially be retrieved through Internet searches.
Mailing list policy
Usage of this mailing list is covered by the Use of Electronic Mail section of the E-Berkeley Policy for [University of California, Berkeley] Campus Online Activities.
Consistent with that policy, the MAGNet mailing list is only for carrying out official business of the University of California, Berkeley campus, specifically the discussion of issues that affect microcomputer and workstation support on campus, and is not to be used for commercial announcements by outside parties or any other unrelated purposes. To help prevent unsolicited bulk e-mail (commonly known as "spam") from being broadcast to the list, the list is configured to only accept messages sent by its members.
In an earlier revision of the Interim E-Berkeley Policy, the former Electronic Mass Mailings subsection of that Policy also required that members be informed what level of privacy is afforded to list information. At present, the identity of the list's members and the content of the messages posted to the list should both be regarded as publicly accessible.
Overview of managing your subscription
In December 2007, the CalMail service team transitioned many campus mailing lists, including the MAGNet mailing list, to a new and more capable software package known as Mailman, replacing the venerable Majordomo software that had been used for over a decade.
With Mailman, you now can use either of two ways to manage your list subscription:
- Visiting a web page (the most convenient)
- Sending commands via email (when you can't get to the web)
Each of these methods is described further below.
Note that, when managing your list subscription via the web, you can choose either of two ways to do this:
- You can log in with your CalMail account name and password to manage all of your list subscriptions from a single page.
- You can log in with your list password to manage your subscription on a page that's just for the MAGNet list. (Even if you don't have a CalMail account, you can use this method.)
Subscribing
You can subscribe to the MAGNet mailing list via the web or via email:
Subscribing via the web
To subscribe via the web, visit this page:
https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/listinfo/magnet-list@lists.berkeley.edu
On that page, you'll be asked for your email address. You can also optionally provide:
- Your name.
- A list (or "privacy") password, to prevent others from un-subscribing you or changing your list options without your permission. (If you don't provide one, a password will be automatically generated for you.)
- Your choice of whether you wish to receive mail batched into a daily "digest" message. (Unless otherwise specified, you'll receive each message sent to the list as a separate email message.)
After clicking the "Subscribe" button, you'll then receive an email message, asking that you confirm your request. (It may take a short time for this message to arrive.) Be sure to follow the instructions in that email to complete the process of subscribing.
Subscribing via email
To subscribe via email, send an e-mail message to the address
whose subject line or body consists of the single line of text:
subscribe
Be sure to send this message from the e-mail address from which you wish to subscribe. (See below if you need to subscribe a different address.)
After sending this message, you'll then receive an email message, asking that you confirm your request. (It may take a short time for this message to arrive.) Be sure to follow the instructions in that message to complete the process of subscribing.
If you prefer, you can also subscribe via email by sending an empty email message to a slightly different address:
As described above, you'll then receive an email message, asking that you confirm your request. Be sure to follow the instructions in that email to complete the process of subscribing.
Subscribing from a different address via email
You can subscribe to the list from a different e-mail address by sending an email message to the address:
This message should contain only a single line of text in the subject line or body, in the following format:
subscribe address=yourotheraddress@host
In this line of text, replace yourotheraddress@host with some other e-mail address you own, other than the one from which you're now sending mail.
If you've placed your subscribe command in the body of your message, make sure that it is sent on a single line of text, and is not wrapped to two or more lines by your e-mail program.
After sending this message, you'll then receive an email message at that other email address, asking that you confirm your request. (It may take a short time for this message to arrive.) Be sure to follow the instructions in that message to complete the process of subscribing.
Unsubscribing
You can unsubscribe from the MAGNet mailing list via the web or via email:
Unsubscribing via the web - when you have a CalMail account
To unsubscribe via the web when you have a CalMail (email) account, visit this page:
https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/mylists
(You have a CalMail account if you have a @berkeley.edu email address, or a departmental email address on the CalMail service.)
After logging in with your CalMail username and password, you'll see a "Manage Your Mailing Lists" page. Under the subhead "You are subscribed to the following lists," click the name of the list from which you wish to unsubscribe. For instance, to unsubscribe from the MAGNet list, click the name that begins with magnet-list ...
You'll then see an "Options" page for that list. Follow the instructions in the "Unsubscribe" section of that page to unsubscribe from the list: click the "Unsubscribe confirmation" checkbox, then click the "Unsubscribe" button.
After clicking the "Unsubscribe" button, you'll then receive an email message, asking that you confirm your request. (It may take a short time for this message to arrive.) Be sure to follow the instructions in that email to complete the process of unsubscribing.
Unsubscribing via the web - when you don't have a CalMail account
To unsubscribe via the web when you don't have a CalMail account, visit this page:
https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/options/magnet-list@lists.berkeley.edu
On that page, you'll be asked for your email address and your list password.
After logging in, you'll see an "Options" page for that list. Follow the instructions in the "Unsubscribe" section of that page to unsubscribe yourself from the list: click the "Unsubscribe confirmation" checkbox, then click the "Unsubscribe" button.
(Even if you do have a CalMail account, you can also use this method as an alternative method of unsubscribing. This is a faster and more direct method, but requires that you enter your list password.)
Unsubscribing via email
To unsubscribe via email, send an e-mail message to the address
whose subject line or body consists of the single line of text:
unsubscribe
Be sure to send this message from the e-mail address from which you wish to unsubscribe. (See below if you need to unsubscribe a different address.)
After doing so, you'll receive an email message, asking that you confirm your request. (It may take a short time for this message to arrive.) Be sure to follow the instructions in that email to complete the process of unsubscribing.
If you prefer, you can also unsubscribe via email by sending an empty email message to a slightly different address:
As described above, you'll then receive an email message, asking that you confirm your request. Be sure to follow the instructions in that email to complete the process of unsubscribing.
Unsubscribing via email from a different address
Alternately, you can unsubscribe from the list from another one of your e-mail addresses by sending an email message to the address:
This message should contain only a single line of text in the subject line or body, in the following format:
unsubscribe password address=yourotheraddress@host
In this line of text in your message, replace password with your list password and yourotheraddress@host with the address from which you wish to unsubscribe. This might be a different e-mail address you own - or an address that you once owned but now no longer exists - other than the one from which you're now sending mail.
If you've placed your unsubscribe command in the body of your message, make sure that it is sent on a single line of text, and is not wrapped to two or more lines by your e-mail program.
Managing your list options
You can manage your options for your subscription to the MAGNet mailing list via the web or via email:
Managing your list options via the web - when you have a CalMail account
To manage your list options via the web when you have a CalMail (email) account, visit this page:
https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/mylists
(You have a CalMail account if you have a @berkeley.edu email address, or a departmental email address on the CalMail service.)
After logging in with your CalMail username and password, you'll see a "Manage Your Mailing Lists" page. Under the subhead "You are subscribed to the following lists," click the name of the list whose options you wish to manage. For instance, to manage options for the MAGNet list, click the name that begins with magnet-list ...
You'll then see an "Options" page for that list. Follow the instructions there to manage your list options.
Managing your list options via the web - when you don't have a CalMail account
To manage your list options via the web when you don't have a CalMail account, visit this page:
https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/options/magnet-list@lists.berkeley.edu
On that page, you'll be asked for your email address and your list password.
After logging in, you'll see an "Options" page for the MAGNet list. Follow the instructions there to manage your list options.
(Even if you do have a CalMail account, you can also use this method as an alternative method of managing your list options. This is a faster and more direct method, but requires that you enter your list password.)
Managing your list options via email
To learn more about managing your options via email, send an e-mail message to the address
whose subject line or body consists of the single line of text:
help
You'll then receive a message containing detailed information about how to manage your list options via email.
Sending mail to the list's members
To send ("broadcast") a message to all of the members of the MAGNet mailing list, you can address your message to:
Please review the MAGNet mailing list policy before sending mail to the list's members.
Viewing archives of messages previously sent to the list
Archives of past messages sent to the MAGNet mailing list are available for browsing:
Current Archives
2007 Archives
2006 Archives
2005 Archives
2004 Archives
2003 Archives
2002 Archives
2000-2001 Archives
These archives are provided courtesy of Tom Holub of Letters & Science-Computer Resources.
As noted above, these archives are browsable by anyone on the web, and any message posted to the list can potentially be retrieved through Internet searches. In addition, while email addresses in these archives are obscured to help protect them from being harvested by spammers, a determined spammer may nonetheless be able to retrieve them and send junk mail to those addresses.
Common problems and how to solve them
Problem: I've forgotten the list password to manage my subscription to the MAGNet mailing list.
Possible solutions:
-
You can retrieve your list password by following the instructions in the IST Knowledge Base document, I forgot my Mailman mailing list password.
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If you have a CalMail account, you can also unsubscribe or manage your options by logging in with your CalMail account name and password, rather than your list password. (After logging in this way, you also can reset your list password, if you wish.)
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Finally, you can unsubscribe or manage your options via email. Since you'll receive confirmation requests via email, you can perform most mailing list actions without requiring your list password.
Problem: A message I sent to the list hasn't yet appeared there.
Possible causes and solutions:
Most messages posted to the list typically are received by its members within 15 to 30 minutes. If your message still hasn't appeared after that time:
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You may have sent the message from an email address that isn't subscribed to the list. Only messages sent from the exact address at which you are currently subscribed will be posted to the list.
Try sending the message once again from your subscribed email address, or from any of your other addresses that may have been set up to post to the list. (If you need to occasionally send messages to the list from a different address than your subscribed address, you can contact the mailing list administrator, who can set you up to do so.)
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Your message may have contained a large attachment, such as an image file, Word file, PDF file, etc.
Messages sent to the list are limited to 40,000 characters in size; larger messages are bounced.
Try resending the message without the attachment. If you need to refer readers of your message to large files, images, and the like, you can do so by providing URLs in the body of your message, pointing to files which can be viewed or downloaded via a website, Cal WebFiles, etc.
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Your message may have contained a word or phrase that looked like a mailing list command, either in the subject or within the first five lines or so of the body.
Examples of these words are "help", "subscribe", "unsubscribe", "confirm", and "remove." If one of those words begins a line of text, and was followed by no more than zero to three other words, the message may have been bounced by an "administrivia" filter.
Try re-sending the message after moving, removing, or rephrasing the problematic word or phrase. (For more information about the administrivia filter, please see this article in the Mailman-Users discussion list.)
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Your message may have been sent to the wrong address.
Sometimes, messages may be inadvertently sent to the list owners' address or to one of the addresses used by the list server to handle requests.
Check the To: address in your message and make sure it is the correct address for sending mail to the list's members.
Contacting a human regarding the list
If you should have problems or questions regarding the MAGNet mailing list, you can contact the administrator of the MAGNet mailing list.
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Last updated: Thursday, 31-Jan-2008 12:31:46 PST