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People who have permission to modify the list of people subscribed to a LISTSERV mailing list are called the list owners. This page describes some of the basic tasks associated with being a list owner. If you are just interested in information for the subscribers of a mailing list, you can skip this page, and go to the subscribers' page (list owners should read that page, too).
The most convenient way to manage a list on the Penn State LISTSERV server is through the web interface that's provided, at http://lists.psu.edu.
When a LISTSERV mailing list is set up, the owners of the list are specified. These users have the ability to configure the settings of the list, and subscribe and unsubscribe users from the list. EMSEI mailing lists are usually set up by the ECF system administrators. You can contact them by sending email to sysadmin@essc.psu.edu.
When you want to make a modification to a mailing list that you're an owner of, go to http://lists.psu.edu. From there, follow the link to the "mailing list management interface". It will prompt you for your email address, which it uses to identify you. If you haven't logged in before, you'll have to set up your password first. Click the link to set your password, and it will lead you through the process.
Once you have set your password, you can log in to the management interface. From there, you will be able to manage any list on the Penn State LISTSERV that lists you as one of its owners. Choose the list that you want to operate on from the drop-down listbox near the top of the screen.
From the main management page, click on the "manage subscribers" button. Near the bottom of the following page, a link is provided that lets you view all of the users that are currently subscribed to the list. The link is titled "in a browser window", and is somewhat inobvious, since it's buried in the paragraph.
To subscribe or unsubscribe users one at a time, click the "manage subscribers" button on the main management page. This will let you delete a particular user, or add a new one. When adding a new user, you have the option of sending them the standard welcome message, which is usually helpful. It confirms that they're subscribed, and gives them some information about using the list and how to unsubscribe.
If you're moving an existing mailing list to the LISTSERV, you probably don't want to have to type in each name. Instead, under "bulk operations", you can upload the text file of email addresses directly.
These are the most common operations you'll have to perform as a list owner. The web interface is a little clunky, but it gets the job done. Since this software is designed to be able to handle mailing lists with millions of subscribers (literally), there are very few operations that let you directly manipulate the entire contents of the list.
For more complete information, there is a list owner's introduction that documents how to use the web interface.
If you want to use the email interface to the LISTSERV server, or you need very detailed information about expert list ownership, you may want to take a look at the detailed owner's manual.