ServerSmiths List Serving Automated Processes
We supply a wide variety of automated list services. Virtually all the commands and types of user interaction are the same regardless of the type of list service. In this Actions Flow Tutorial the "List" is whatever type of service we're providing to you, announcement, newsletter, closed discussion, open discussion, etc. The automated messages that are sent by the list server are highlighted in BOLD below. You can customize these messages using your own terminology to fit your website or existing marketing materials. All the interaction listed below is handled for you automatically. Each day that there is any activity on your list (subscribe/unsubscribe/bounced emails, problem messages etc.) you are sent a report of that day's activity. If you are contemplating running your own manual list with your email client, please note that all of the interactions below will have to be dealt with on a periodic basis (often daily).
User Action	List Server Action
Subscribe Process
User sends subscribe email to your list address from their email client or user uses webform to send subscribe action to your list address
	Server looks to see if the address is already listed as an active subscriber, if not found, server sends "Confirm" email to your user, puts user name and address into a pending file.
User replys to confirm email
	Server activates the subscription by: sending the "Welcome" email to your user, putting name and address into the list of active subscribers and into the archive list of subscribers. Both user's address and decision to "opt-in" have now been confirmed.
(Any) User sends email to list with the subject of "Help".
	Server sends "Help" email to the user.
User never replys to confirm email
	Server only uses the pending file for confirmations, unconfirmed user names and addresses are ignored
User List Interaction
Now that the subscribe/confirm/activate process is completed, your user can receive posts or send them as specified in the type of list you are offering (closed discussion, open discussion, announcement, etc.) Subscriber sends an email to the list address.
	When the server receives an email that does not have one of the known commands in the subject line it assumes the email is a posting for the list. The server checks the list of active subscribers and if the sender is listed, the posting is reflected out to the list of subscribers. In the case of moderated lists, the email is forwarded to the moderator to approve.
User sends email to list with the subject of "Help".
	Server sends "Help" email to your user.
User sends email to list with the subject of "Vacation"
	Server finds user in list of subscribers, moves user name and address from list of active subscribers to list of subscribers on vacation, sends "On Vacation" email to user. User does not receive any more posts.
User sends email to list with the subject of "Vacation" a second time
	Server finds user in list of subscribers on vacation, moves user name and address from list of vacation subscribers to list of active subscribers, sends "Off Vacation" email to user. User begins to receive posts again.
User sends unsubscribe email to your list address from their email client or user uses webform to send unsubscribe action to your list address
	Server finds user in list of active subscribers, removes user from the list of active subscribers, sends "Unsubscribed" email to user.
User sends email to list with the subject of "reinstate"
	Server looks for user in archive list of subscribers, if found, copies user name and address from archive list of subscribers to list of active subscribers, sends "Reinstated" email to user. If user is not found sends "Reinstatement Failed" email to user.
Common User Errors
User inadvertantly sends another subscribe email to your list address from their email client or uses webform to send subscribe action to your list address
	Prior to sending confirm email server checks for user in list of subscribers and if found, rejects the duplicate subscription, sends "Subscription Failed" email to your user
An unknown user sends a post to your discussion list
	Prior to reflecting a post to the list of subscribers, the server verifies each post as having come from a listed subscriber. This user is not listed. Server rejects the post and sends "Not a Subscriber" email to user. Email has instructions on how to subscribe.
User inadvertantly replys to confirm email again
	Server finds user in list of active subscribers and rejects the duplicate subscription, sends "Subscription Failed" email to your user.
An unknown user sends unsubscribe email to your list address from their email client or uses webform to send unsubscribe action to your list address
	Server does not find user in list of active subscribers, sends "Unsubscribe Failed" email to user.
A subscriber changes their email address and then sends an unsubscribe email to your list address from their new email adress
	Server does not find user's new address in list of active subscribers, sends "Unsubscribe Failed" email to user. Unsubscribe failed email has instructions for user to use webform to unsubscribe their old address.