subscribe-listname
To subscribe to a list, send an email with no message to subscribe-listname@yourserver or listname-subscribe@yourserver.
For example:
subscribe-jazztalk@example.net
jazztalk-subscribe@example.net
The following words may be used instead of subscribe:
sub
join
on
signon
subscribe
subscibe (a common misspelling)
suscribe (a common misspelling)
ListManager will automatically determine, by receiving the email, that the person wants to subscribe to a list called "jazztalk", and it will automatically determine their email address and name.
Note: If your list is password protected, then users cannot use this form of subscribing, and must instead send mail to listmanager@yourserver or send mail to listname-request@yourserver.
Subscription Options
Members may specify their membership type (that is, the kind of mail they would like to receive) when they subscribe by specifying the option in place of the word subscribe.
Example:
digest-jazztalk@example.net
The following may be used instead of subscribe to join a list with the specified membership type:
digest
mimedigest
index
nomail
Subscribing with the Listmanager@ Command
You can subscribe to a mailing list by sending a subscribe command to the listmanager@yourserver.com address. The listmanager@ address is referred to as the "ListManager" address in this documentation.
When sent to the ListManager address, any of the following subscribe syntaxes are acceptable:
subscribe listname
subscribe listname password
subscribe listname "your name"
subscribe listname "your name" password
subscribe listname password "your name"
The password syntaxes are only applicable if the mailing list is password protected, and in such a case the password must be specified at subscription time in order to be accepted. In the cases where the person's name is specified next to the Password, ListManager is able to extract the password from the text, and correctly understands that what remains is the person's name.
In the above prototypes, the your name labels are place holders where the person subscribing can insert their name. The person's name does not need to be two words—all the words in double quotes will be understood as the person's name.
For instance, the following subscribe command is valid:
subscribe jazz-discuss "Mr. James Barton Smith"
If the subscriber does not specify their name on the subscribe command line, ListManager will attempt to determine the person's name from their email address. For example, if their email message says:
From: James Smith <jsmith@acme.com>
ListManager will extract the name James Smith and apply it as part of this member's subscription settings.
The quiet modifier
If you add the word "quiet" to the subscribe command, ListManager will not send a confirming message back, unless the subscription fails for some reason. For instance, for a list called "jazztalk", you could join it with this command:
subscribe jazztalk quiet
The public domain list server "majordomo" uses a "listname-request@yourserver.com" address, and ListManager supports this convention for compatibility.
When sent to the listname-request address, any of the following subscribe syntaxes are acceptable:
subscribe
subscribe password
subscribe "your name"
subscribe "your name" password
subscribe password "your name"
All these ways of joining a mailing list is equivalent. It is up to you which method you decide to tell your users to use. There is no “Best Way”, just a way that you are most comfortable with.