First, submit the "request for distribution e-mail list" form. This form is an online form and available at the bottom of these procedures. The list requires information regarding the purpose of the list, expected traffic (number of messages per week), name of responsible person (content and use), and intended recipients (students, faculty, staff, site). Once the list is processed, you will be notified by a representative of the office of Information Technology.

The list will have the following attributes, assigned by IT:

A name that describes the content of the list. (The list name appears in the "From:" field in outgoing e-mail.) For example, a list named athletics relays information concerning Troy University athletic events.

• An e-mail address of the list owner
• Will use the subscribe / unsubscribe template for all emails sent to your list.

Only one person in your office will be responsible for approving message content, format and message delivery. The person responsible for the list must ensure that no unauthorized persons have access to the account that owns the list. The password should not be written down. For additional security, the list will be set up so that no message is posted until the owner account is notified and approves the posting.

Guidelines for message format are given below. If you need to send a message that does not conform to the format rules, call IT before you send the message.

Once per semester, IT will recreate all lists.

All of the e-mail addresses in the Troy University email server will be assigned to each list upon account repopulation once per semester. However, all accounts have the ability to forward their assigned e-mail to another address, including addresses from commercial and other service providers. Be aware that e-mail sent to a valid troy.edu address may fail to be delivered because it was forwarded to another invalid address.

All Troy University email users have the ability to unsubscribe from distribution e-mail lists.

All e-mail accounts have reasonable but limited space for incoming e-mail. One large e-mail sent to thousands of accounts could have a negative impact on the ability to receive other e-mail, including other official e-mail. You must monitor the error messages your list receives. If you receive an email message indicating a large number of "over-quota" delivery failures, you should inform IT at emailhelp@troy.edu with a list of account names.

Each large mailing has an impact on the campus e-mail system as a whole. A significant number of mailings on any given day could cause delays or even failures in the campus e-mail system. Remember that there is no way to ensure that all students receive or read your mail message. Undeliverable mail due to lack of available disk space, incorrect forwarding address, or invalid account will cause the list manager to send error messages to the list owner's e-mail address. This gives you indication that you may need to attempt to contact that student by other means (although which student is involved can be difficult to ascertain in the case of a bad forwarding address). However, there is no way for you to know if mail is deleted without being read or if it is delivered to or read by a person that is not the intended recipient. Do not use the receipt-notification feature of your e-mail package. This feature is not very informative (the recipient may choose not to send the receipt, or it could have been received by the wrong person), and it can generate a very large volume of e-mail.

Also, since you cannot be sure that the e-mail will only be read by its intended recipients, do not send anything of a sensitive or confidential nature over your list.

Your list should be used only for the stated purpose. Do not use your list to send out messages for other individuals or units. Your list should only be used to send information related to the business of your department, and only for information that must be sent in a timely way. Do not use your list to send routine information. Routine information should be on departmental webpages, where users can easily find it when they need it. Do not use your list to send out surveys or questionnaires. Instead, put the survey on a Web page and send out a notice directing individuals to the survey page.


Formatting

The text or signature of the message must make it clear what University official or department is responsible for the e-mail.

The subject line for each message should indicate what the letter is about.

The messages should be text only and should be short. If you need to give students more information, provide a link to a webpage where students can find the additional information, or offer a phone number or e-mail address where they can get more information.

Do not send an attachment with your e-mail, such as a survey or form for the student to print or look at. Instead, put the information on a webpage and direct the student to its address. Attachments will slow the e-mail system and fill students' disk space, all university personnel have been advised not to open any attachments due possible virus outbreaks. Information is more likely to be received and read if it is included in the text of the e-mail or a referenced Web page.

[ACCEPT]


[DECLINE]

All Questions and comments should be directed to our e-mail administrator. You can e-mail them to emailhelp@troy.edu.