• Frequently Asked Questions
  
• Navigating the Discussion Forum Interface
  
• Viewing and Subcribing to Forums
  
• Reading Messages
  
• Sending Messages
  
• Searching for Messages
  
• Editing Your Settings
  
• Learning More About a Forum
  
• Unsubscribing From a Forum

The Navigation Bar is at the top of every ListManager screen. It tells you whether or not you are logged in, and which forum you're logged into (if any). The tabs are available on every screen, and help you navigate the discussion forum interface.

Current Forum
The upper righthand corner of the screen shows you the forum you are logged into, if any.

You Are
The upper righthand corner of the screen shows you who you are logged in as, if at all. If you would like to log in, click on Not Logged In and provide your e-mail address and password (if you have one). Or, click on My Account or My Forums.

Help
Clicking on the Help icon takes you to the ListManager Manual.

Tabs
You can navigate between the major areas of the ListManager discussion forum interface by clicking on one of the navigation bar tabs.

Messages
Clicking on the Messages tab allows you to see an overview of the messages for the current forum. From there, you may read messages, reply to messages, or create a new message. Depending on a forum's settings, you may need to log in before you may view its messages.

Search
The Search tab allows you to search the message archives for the current forum. Whether or not a forum is searchable depends on the settings for that forum.

My Account
The My Account page allows you to change your member settings. On the Essentials tab, you may change your e-mail address, name or type. On theAdvanced tab, you may also change your password, specify whether or not you want to receive copies of your own postings, and whether or not the changes you make should take affect for all lists on the server. If you are not logged in, clicking on My Account will prompt you to do so.

My Forums
The My Forums page shows you which forums you have subscribed to. You may unsubscribe from lists on this page. If you have not logged in, clicking on My Forums will prompt you to do so.

All Forums
The All Forums page shows you all forums on the server. If there are multiple sites on a server, All Forums will only show you the lists for the sites in which you are a member. If you are not logged in, it will show you all the forums for the site you logged into, or for the default site if you did not specify a particular forum when you accessed the discussion forum interface.

To view all available forums for a site, click on All Forums. You will see a list of all the public forums available on the site you logged into. Ten forums are displayed at one time. To view more than ten forums at a time, click on Show More. Repeatedly clicking on Show More will show greater numbers of forums at a time. Click on Next to see the next ten mailings, Previous to see the last ten. You may change the sorting order of the forums by clicking the up or down triangles next to Name, Description, and Members Only. By clicking the top triangle, the sort order will be ascending (a-z); clicking the bottom arrow makes the sort order descending (z-a). Click on next to see the next ten members, previous to see the last ten, or show more to see up to a hundred forums.

Name
The name of the forum. Click on the forum name to read the messages for a forum. If you are already logged in, or if the list allows non-members to view messages, you will be taken to the Messages page where you can read the forum's messages. If you are not logged in, and the list allows only members to read its messages, you will be asked to log in. If you are not a member of such a list, you will need to subscribe to the forum before you will be able to access it.

Description
A description of the forum.

Members Only?
Whether or not reading the forum's messages is restricted to members, or if anyone may read them.

Subscribing to a Forum
To subscribe to a forum, click on Subscribe next to the forum name. If you are logged in, you will be subscribed with your current settings. Depending on the forum's settings, you may be prompted for the following:

New Subscriber Password
The password required to join this forum. Some forums require that you specify a password in order to join. If this forum is password-protected, you must specify it here.

Your E-mail Address
The e-mail address that should receive e-mail from this forum.

Your Name
The name you'd like to be associated with your membership to this forum. This setting may be optional or required, depending on the forum.

Set a Password
The password you'd like to use in order to access this forum. This setting may be optional or required, depending on the forum. Be aware that you may not be added immediately. You may need to reply to a confirmation message in order to activate your membership. Or, your membership may be pending the approval of an administrator. Check your e-mail for the status of your subscription.

Entering a Forum
If you have already selected a forum, you may click on the Messages tab to read the messages for that forum. There are several ways to select a forum:

1. Click on the All Forums tab, and select the forum. You will be taken to the Messages tab.
2. Click on the My Forums tab, and select the forum. You will be taken to the Messages tab.

Creating a New Message
A new message will be a new message thread in the discussion forum interface. All replies to your message will be grouped under your initial message as a message thread.

1. Select a forum from My Forums or All forums.
2. Click on the Messages tab. Depending on the forum's settings, you may be prompted to log in.
3. Click on Create New Message. Depending on the forum's settings, you may be prompted to log in.
4. Enter your e-mail address (if prompted), the Subject and Message Body of the message you'd like to be sent to the forum.
5. Click OK to send the message, or Cancel to abort it.

1. Select a message from Messages.
2. Click on Reply beneath the message you would like to reply to. Depending on the forum's settings, you may be prompted to log in.
3. Enter your e-mail address (if prompted), the Subject and Message Body of the message you'd like to be sent to the forum.
4. Click OK to send the message, or Cancel to abort it.

Some forums may allow you to search their message archives. The basic search allows you to look for particular words used in a message. The advanced search allows you to specify the location of the words (in the message header, subject or body) or to exclude words.

Basic Search

1. Select a forum, either in My Forums or All Forums.
2. Select the Search tab.
3. If the forum allows searching of its archives, you will be taken to the Search page.
4. Enter the word(s) you'd like to search for. You may separate words with a space or comma.
5. Select Search. If your search is successful, the next page will show you the results.

1. Select a forum, either in My Forums or All Forums.
2. Select the Search tab.
3. If the forum allows searching of its archives, you will be taken to the Search page.
4. Select Advanced Search.
5. Enter the word(s) you'd like to search for. You may separate words with a space or comma.
6. Enter the location of the words you're searching for:
Entire Message: anywhere in the message.
Body: In the message body (below the subject line).
Header: In the message header (includes information about the sender, the subject, etc.).
7. Select whether you want messages with any or all of the words you've selected.
8. (Optional) Enter the word(s) you'd like to exclude. Messages that contain these
words will not be included in your search results.
9. Enter the location of these words to be excluded:
Entire Message: anywhere in the message.
Body: In the message body (below the subject line).
Header: In the message header (includes information about the sender, the subject, etc.).
10. Select Search. If your search is successful, the next page will show you the results.

1. Select a forum, either in My Forums or All Forums.
2. Select the Search tab.
3. Select Advanced Search.
4. Enter the words you'd like to search for: trains trucks
6. Enter Entire Message for the location of the words you're searching for.
7. Select All to search for messages with both words (trains and trucks) in them.
8. Enter your e-mail address as a word you'd like to exclude.
9. Select Header as the location for the word to exclude. Since your e-mail address would appear in the header, Your search will then exclude any messages sent by you.
10. Select Search. If your search is successful, the next page will show you the results.

If you are a member of a forum, you may edit your settings via e-mail commands, or through the discussion forum interface.

1. Click on the My Account Tab. ListManager will prompt you to log in if you haven't already.
2. The My Account page shows your settings on two separate tabs: Essentials, and Advanced. You may edit your settings here.
3. Click on Save Changes to save the changes made to your account. Click on Cancel to abort any changes you've made. Click on Log Out to log out of the discussion forum interface. You will be prompted to log in again as a different user.

• Mail: You receive copies of messages posted to the forum immediately.
• Digest: Each night, around 12:00 am, you will receive a single e-mail message containing all the messages contributed to the forum that day. At the top of the message will be a numbered list of the subjects in that digest, followed by the complete messages themselves. Note that the 12:00am mailing time is not configurable.
• MIME Digest: The same as a digest, but in MIME format so that the individual messages' formatting is preserved. Some e-mail clients such as Outlook will show the digest as a series of attachments.
• Index: Each night, around 1 in the morning, you will receive a single e-mail message containing all the subject lines of all the messages contributed to the forum that day. If any of the messages interest you, the bottom of the index gives the e-mail command that will retrieve the bodies of the messages. Or, you can access the discussion forum interface directly.
• Nomail: No e-mail is sent to you. You are free to go the web interface whenever you want, and read the full text of the messages there. This setting is also useful for people who want the ability to contribute to a mailing list, but do not care to see the contributions to the forum.

Advanced
Password
Your password. If specified, you must use this password to log into the discussion forum interface. For your security, your password is shown as asterisks here. Depending on your settings, having a password may or may not be optional. Note that if you change your password, you will need to log into the discussion forum interface again with your new password.

See Your Postings
This setting determines whether you will get a copy of your own postings to the forum. If set to "Yes" (the default), you will receive a copy of messages you contribute to a forum when the messages are distributed to forum. If "No," you will not receive copies of your own postings.

Apply Changes
By default, changes you make to your account apply to all of your subscriptions on the server. If you change your e-mail address, for example, it will be changed for all forums. By selecting "No", the changes you are making will apply only to the list you are currently logged into (shown in the upper right corner of the screen).

To learn more about a list, click on the About tab. You may need to be logged in as a member to view this information. The information available here depends on what the administrator has chosen to make available.

Name: The forum's name.
Description: The forum's description.
Home Page: The URL to the forum's home page.
Forum Admins: The names and first part of the e-mail addresses of this forum's administrators. Only part of the e-mail address is displayed for privacy's sake. Clicking on the e-mail address displays more information about the admin.
Total Members: The total number of normal members of this forum.
Total Messages: The total number of messages sent through this forum.
Messages Today: The total number of messages sent today through this forum.
Messages in 7 Days: The total number of messages sent through this forum in the past 7 days.
Messages in 30 Days: The total number of messages sent through this forum in the past 30 days.
Comment: Additional comments or information about this forum.
Date Created: The date this forum was created.
Allows Visitors: Whether or not only members can view information about this list and read messages, or only members can.

The My Forums page shows you which forums you have subscribed to. You may unsubscribe from lists on this page by clicking the 'Unsubscribe' button. If you have not logged in, clicking on My Forums will prompt you to do so.

The best way to unsubscribe from a list is to send a blank e-mail to the unsubscribe address specified at the bottom of each e-mail you receive. This address is in the form of leave-listname-yourspecialnumber@Lyris.grinnell.edu The "special number" is a unique identification number that ensures you will be unsubscribed.

Alternatively, you can send an e-mail to alumni@grinnell.edu with 'unsubscribe from listname' in the subject line. (Example: unsubscribe grinnell57)

Why can't I enter a forum?
Some forums allow members only to read archived messages. You will need to subscribe or log in before you can access these forums.

Why can't I join a forum?
You may need to confirm your membership before you can join it. Check your e-mail to see the status of your membership. Depending on its settings, a forum may be closed, or require the administrator's permission before you may join. You may go to the About tab and click on the administrator's e-mail address if you have any questions about the forum.

Why can't I send a message?
Most forums require that you be a member before you may post a message. Be sure that you are a member, and that you have logged in. The forum may also require that an administrator approve your message before it is sent to the list. In these cases, it may take some time before the administrator reads and approves your message.

Why can't I read or search for messages in a forum?
Some forums only allow members to read messages. If you aren't a member, subscribe to the forum to read messages. If you are already a member, you may need to log in to read messages. Not all forums keep message archives, or keep archives for a limited period of time. Other forums may keep archives, but may not make them searchable. You may go to the About tab and click on the administrator's e-mail address if you have any questions about the forum.

Why don't I see all forums on the server? I know there are others!
Some administrators may choose to hide their forums, so they are not visible when you click All Forums. You may still go to these forums directly, but you cannot browse for them. Forums are also grouped into different sites. If you are logged into one site, you may not see forums for another site. You need to log into a forum for that site to see that group of forums.

Why can't I log in?
If you are a member of several forums on the server with different e-mail addresses or passwords, the lists you have access to will depend on the e-mail address/password combination you provide when you try to log in. If you do not have a password for some lists, but you have one for others, you will need to provide your password to access any of your lists, even those for which you do not have a password.

If you are not a member of any list, you should click on All Forums in order to subscribe. Server and site administrators must be members of a list in order to log in.

Why do I keep getting asked to log in?
If you do not log in successfully, the interface assumes that you made a mistake when trying to log in and asks you to log in again. Click on the Messages or All Forums tabs if you'd like to stop trying to log in.