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The Majordomo mailing system
Majordomo is an automated system which allows users to subscribe and unsubscribe to mailing lists, and to retrieve files from list archives. You can interact with the Majordomo software by sending it commands in the body of mail messages addressed to "Majordomo@Somewhere.com". Do not put your commands on the subject line; Majordomo does not process commands in the subject line. You may put multiple Majordomo commands in the same mail message. Put each command on a line by itself. If you use a "signature block" at the end of your mail, Majordomo may mistakenly believe each line of your message is a command; you will then receive spurious error messages. To keep this from happening, either put a line starting with a hyphen ("-") before your signature, or put a line with just the word end on it in the same place. This will stop the Majordomo software from processing your signature as bad commands.

Here are some of the things you can do using Majordomo:

I. FINDING OUT WHICH LISTS ARE ON A SYSTEM
To get a list of publicly-available mailing lists on the system, put the following line in the body of your mail message to Majordomo@Somewhere.com:
lists
Each line will contain the name of a mailing list and a brief description of the list. To get more information about a particular list, use the "info" command, supplying the name of the list. For example, if the name of the list about which you wish information is "demo-list", you would put the line
info demo-list
in the body of the mail message.

II. SUBSCRIBING TO A LIST
Once you've determined that you wish to subscribe to one or more lists on this system, you can send commands to Majordomo to have it add you to the list, so you can begin receiving mailings. To receive list mail at the address from which you're sending your mail, simply say "subscribe" followed by the list's name:
subscribe demo-list
If for some reason you wish to have the mailings go to a different address (a friend's address, a specific other system on which you have an account, or an address which is more correct than the one that automatically appears in the "From:" header on the mail you send), you would add that address to the command. For instance, if you're sending a request from your work account, but wish to receive "demo-list" mail at your personal account (for which we will use "jqpublic@my-isp.com" as an example), you'd put the line
subscribe demo-list jqpublic@my-isp.com
in the mail message body. Based on configuration decisions made by the list owners, you may be added to the mailing list automatically. You may also receive notification that an authorization key is required for subscription. Another message will be sent to the address to be subscribed (which may or may not be the same as yours) containing the key, and directing the user to send a command found in that message back to Majordomo@Somewhere.com. (This can be a bit of extra hassle, but it helps keep you from being swamped in extra email by someone who forged requests from your address.) You may also get a message that your subscription is being forwarded to the list owner for approval; some lists have waiting lists, or policies about who may subscribe. If your request is forwarded for approval, the list owner should contact you soon after your request. Upon subscribing, you should receive an introductory message, containing list policies and features. Save this message for future reference; it will also contain exact directions for unsubscribing. If you lose the intro mail and would like another copy of the policies, send this message to Majordomo@Somewhere.com:
intro demo-list
(substituting, of course, the real name of your list for "demo-list").

III. UNSUBSCRIBING FROM MAILING LISTS
Your original intro message contains the exact command which should be used to remove your address from the list. However, in most cases, you may simply send the command "unsubscribe" followed by the list name:
unsubscribe demo-list
(This command may fail if your provider has changed the way your address is shown in your mail.) To remove an address other than the one from which you're sending the request, give that address in the command:
unsubscribe demo-list jqpublic@my-isp.com
In either of these cases, you can tell Majordomo@Somewhere.com to remove the address in question from all lists on this server by using "*" in place of the list name:
unsubscribe * unsubscribe * jqpublic@my-isp.com

IV. FINDING THE LISTS TO WHICH AN ADDRESS IS SUBSCRIBED
To find the lists to which your address is subscribed, send this command in the body of a mail message to Majordomo@Somewhere.com:
which
You can look for other addresses, or parts of an address, by specifying the text for which Majordomo should search. For instance, to find which users at my-isp.com are subscribed to which lists, you might send the command:
which my-isp.com
Note that many list owners completely or fully disable the "which" command, considering it a privacy violation.

V. FINDING OUT WHO'S SUBSCRIBED TO A LIST
To get a list of the addresses on a particular list, you may use the "who" command, followed by the name of the list:
who demo-list
Note that many list owners allow only a list's subscribers to use the "who" command, or disable it completely, believing it to be a privacy violation.

VI. RETRIEVING FILES FROM A LIST'S ARCHIVES
Many list owners keep archives of files associated with a list. These may include: - back issues of the list - help files, user profiles, and other documents associated with the list - daily, monthly, or yearly archives for the list To find out if a list has any files associated with it, use the "index" command:
index demo-list
If you see files in which you're interested, you may retrieve them by using the "get" command and specifying the list name and archive filename. For instance, to retrieve the files called "profile.form" (presumably a form to fill out with your profile) and "demo-list.9611" (presumably the messages posted to the list in November 1996), you would put the lines:
get demo-list profile.form
get demo-list demo-list.9611
in your mail to Majordomo@Somewhere.com.

VII. GETTING MORE HELP
To contact a human site manager, in most cases you can send mail to postmaster@Somewhere.com. To get a help message, send mail to Majordomo@Somewhere.com
with a line saying:
help
in the message body.

VIII. COMMAND SUMMARY FOR ADVANCED USERS
In the description below items contained in []'s are optional. When providing the item, do not include the []'s around it. Items in angle brackets, such as <address>, are meta-symbols that should be replaced by appropriate text without the angle brackets. It understands the following commands: subscribe <list> [<address>] Subscribe yourself (or <address> if specified) to the named <list>. unsubscribe <list> [<address>] Unsubscribe yourself (or <address> if specified) from the named <list>. "unsubscribe *" will remove you (or <address>) from all lists. This _may not_ work if you have subscribed using multiple addresses. get <list> <filename> Get a file related to <list>. index <list> Return an index of files you can "get" for <list>. which [<address>] Find out which lists you (or <address> if specified) are on. who <list> Find out who is on the named <list>. info <list> Retrieve the general introductory information for the named <list>. intro <list> Retrieve the introductory message sent to new users. Non-subscribers may not be able to retrieve this. lists Show the lists served by this Majordomo server. help Retrieve this message. end Stop processing commands (useful if your mailer adds a signature). Commands should be sent in the body of an email message to "Majordomo@Somewhere.com". Multiple commands can be processed provided each occurs on a separate line. Commands in the "Subject:" line are NOT processed.

 Home

Q: How many internet mail list subscribers does it
     take to change a light bulb?

     A: Exactly Five Hundred:

        1 to change the light bulb and to post to the mail list
          that the light bulb has been changed
        7 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and
          how the light bulb could have been changed differently.
        4 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.
       17 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about
          changing light bulbs.
       21 to flame the spell checkers
       49 to write to the list administrator complaining about the
          light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail
          list.
       20 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.
       32 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to
          please take this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb
       69 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar,
          alt.spelling and alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be
          stopped.
       41 to defend the posting to this list saying that we all
          use light bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this
          mail list.
      106 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is
          superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light
          bulbs work best for this technique, and what brands are faulty.
       12 to post URLs where one can see examples of different
          light bulbs
        8 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to
          post corrected URLs.
        2 to post about links they found from the URLs that are
          relevant to this list which makes light bulbs relevant to this
          list.
       15 to concatenate all posts to date, then quote them
          including all headers and footers, and then add pointedly, "Me
          Too."
        6 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because
          they cannot handle the light bulb controversy.
        9 to quote the "Me Too's" and happily add, "Me Three!"
        3 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.
        1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup.
       24 to say this is just what alt.physic.cold_fusion was
          meant for, leave it here.
       53 votes for alt.lite.bulb.