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MBARI Email List Server

Special Information for MBARI Users

This server uses the Sympa public domain listserver software. The MBARI I.S. staff has put together a specialized set of tech notes on the IS web site dealing with MBARI's implementation of the Sympa package. You can find those tech notes by clicking here; they will open in a new window for your convenience. You may also submit a help ticket if you need additonal help.

The rest of this document is a customized version of the documentation distributed with the Sympa product.

Users Frequently Asked Questions

You can not subscribe to a list

This problem may be due to the following reasons:

  • The list owners may have forgotten to process your subscription request. You can resubmit your request before contacting the list owners directly.
  • Subscription to the list is restricted. To learn more, contact the list owners.
  • You can not log on to the mailing list web interface

    This problem may be due to the following reasons:

  • You have no password. To be given a password, follow the First login? link from the homepage. You will receive your new password by email.
  • You entered an incorrect password. If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it. To do so, follow the Lost password? link from the homepage.
  • You are not using the correct username (the email address with which you are subscribed to the list).
  • You do not receive (all) messages sent to a list

    This problem can have multiple reasons:

  • You have never been subscribed to the list:
  • Maybe you made a mistake in your email address when you tried to subscribe.
  • Maybe you are subscribed with an email address other than the one you are checking.
  • Maybe your subscription request was rejected by the list owners.

  • In any case, try and subscribe again.

  • You are not subscribed to the list anymore:
  • If your address has been bouncing for a while, you might have been automatically unsubscribed by the system (or even by the list owners). Try and subscribe again after ensuring that your email address will is still valid.
  • If you have not respected the different rules applying to the mailing list, the list owners might have "banned" you...
  • You might also have been arbitrarily unsubscribed by an ill-intentioned person, in case the list is not configured to send a confirmation request for any subscription and unsubscription request... In that case, try and subscribe again.
  • Your delivery mode does not allow you to receive messages.
  • Your inbox is full. Be careful: when your inbox is not completely full, you receive only small messages, which makes it difficult to understand what actually is the problem... Furthermore, if your email address causes trouble on a regular basis, you might be unsubscribed by the list owners or by the system.
  • Your inbox is subject to some restrictions: it does not allow you to receive messages with attachments, bans some types of attachments or limits the maximum size of incoming messages; in that case, we advise you to choose the Urlize delivery mode.
  • You can not send messages to a list

    This problem can have multiple reasons:

  • You have never been subscribed to the list.
  • You are not subscribed to the list anymore.
  • You are trying to use an address other than the one with which you are subscribed to the list.
  • If the list is a moderated list, the distribution of the message depends on the moderators' availability: they can not monitor the list night and day! Thus the distribution of your message might be a bit delayed.
  • If the list is a moderated list, your message might have been rejected by a moderator. In case you received no notice, you can possibly send a message to nameofthelist-request@listserver.mbari.org to ask for an explanation.
  • The message you are trying to send does not fulfill the conditions to be distributed on the list: it may be too large, contain a forbidden type of attachment or even contain any type of attachment (in case attachments are forbidden on the list).
  • The problem may also come from your email account:
  • The mail server is temporarily unavailable.
  • Your inbox is full and it prevents you from sending new messages.
  • Your inbox is subject to some restrictions: it does not allow you to send messages with attachments, bans some types of attachments or limits the maximum size of outgoing messages.
  • Lastly, you might have made a mistake in the list address when sending your message!
  • You can not unsubscribe from a list

    This problem can have multiple reasons:

  • You are using another address than the one with which you are subscribed to the list.
  • You are subscribed through a dynamic data source (examples: databases, LDAP directories, etc.) which does not allow you to unsubscribe. Contact the list owners to know more about this.
  • The list owners forgot to process your unsubscription request. Resubmit your request before contacting list owners directly.
  • If you want to contact the list owners

    The names of the list owners and moderators for each list server are mentioned in the left menu. However, you should never write directly to a list owner or moderator: first, the person to whom you are writing might be absent, and furthermore, it is better to inform all owners and moderators of your request. When you have a question or remark, the address you should write to is: nameofthelist-request@listserver.mbari.org (for example, detritus-request@listserver.mbari.org).

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