Listserv at UIUC Unwanted Mail policy

What owners can do to control spam

List owners are expected to watch their lists and make a reasonable attempt to prevent their lists from being used by for off topic postings/solicitations.

Recommended list owner tools for spam prevention include (but are not limited to):

Controlling access

The filter keyword allows you to selectively eliminate users or groups of users from using your list. A default list is included in the system filter. If your list is being hit by joe@spam.com, you could add a filter of the form:

Filter = Also, *@spam.com

The Also makes sure that the system defaults are used.

Checking for valid email addresses

Using the command

Subscription = Open, Confirm

guarantees that the person who gets on the list has a valid email address. Unsolicited mail often comes from an invalid email address. You may want to go the extra step to use

Subscription = By owner

to be sure that you know everyone on the list.

Restricting the list of subscribers as appropriate

We encourage you to use the service area restriction, to limit how far afield your list gets. Defining a 'service area' restricts where subscription requests may come from. For example, the command

Service= *uiuc.edu, *ncsa.edu

limits subscriptions to uiuc.edu and ncsa.edu addresses. In addition, the service area can be used to restrict who may send messages with:

Send = Service

Limiting who may see the configuration of the list and list of subscribers

We suggest using:

Review=Owner

so that only the owner can get a list of the subscribers. The easiest way to avoid people getting a list of your subscribers is to allow only yourself access to the list.

Removing disruptive subscribers from your list(s)

List owners shall not abuse the list of users by distributing the list of subscribers or posting off-topic messages themselves.

To the best of their ability, the list owners shall keep the list contained to discussions related to the list description. Don't allow your list to be taken over by unapproved factions.

Consequences

If a list owner is negligent in maintaining his/her list, CITES may need to shut down the list.

Definition

Unwanted mail ("spam") is defined in fairly broad terms. Basically it means any message that meets (but is not limited to) the following criteria:

• sent to a large (greater than 50) number of email addresses or newsgroups
• unsolicited
• the addresses were collected without the knowledge or consent of the recipients (this includes reviewing Listserv lists).

Click here for Listserv's description of "spam"

Official communications of the University of Illinois are specifically defined as not being spam.

If you have a question as to whether or not your message would be considered spam, you may send a copy of the message, and a description of the target audience to listmgr@uiuc.edu