Listserv

listserv

[′list‚sərv] (computer science) The software (server) used to maintain an electronic mailing list. Also known as list server.

Listserv

(messaging)An automatic mailing list server, initiallywritten to run under IBM's VM operating system by EricThomas.

Listserv is a user name on some computers on BITNET/EARNwhich processes electronic mail requests for addition to ordeletion from mailing lists. Examples are listserv@ucsd.edu,listserver@nysernet.org.

Some listservs provide other facilities such as retrievingfiles from archives and database search. Full details ofavailable services can usually be obtained by sending amessage with the word HELP in the subject and body to thelistserv address.

Eric Thomas, has recently formed an international corporation,L-Soft, and has ported Listserv to a number of otherplatforms including Unix. Listserv has simultaneouslybeen enhanced to use both the Internet and BITNET.

Two other major mailing list processors, both of which rununder Unix, are Majordomo, a freeware system, andListproc, currently owned and developed by BITNET.

LISTSERV

Mailing list management software from L-Soft international, Inc., Landover, MD (www.lsoft.com) that runs on Windows, Mac, OpenVMS, VM (mainframe) and various Unix machines. LISTSERV scans email messages for the words "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" to automatically update the list. Virus protection is also provided. The LISTSERV program originated in France in 1986 by engineering student Eric Thomas, who went on to found the L-Soft company in 1994. See electronic mailing list.

Acronym

Definition

LISTSERV➣List Server (bulk e-mail protocol)

Listserv

listserv

List•serv

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Listserv

LISTSERV

LISTSERV