The CenterSpan Listserv is an email based forum for transplant professionals to discuss ideas, clinical dilemmas, and unusual cases. Each post is reviewed by a listserv moderator to ensure that it is appropriate and does not contain confidential protected health information. You do not have to be an ASTS member to subscribe to CenterSpan.
Your login is your email address. Once you have subscribed, received a request to create a password, and followed the instructions in that request, you will receive the following confirmation message:
Your password registration request has been accepted.
For your protection, the password will not be activated just yet (anyone could have completed this form using your email address). To activate your password, simply follow the instructions sent to your email address. Please wait until the website displays a message from LISTSERV saying "Your new password was registered successfully" before trying to use it.
Click here to subscribe to CenterSpan
Sending/Posting Messages
Send messages from your email program to the following address:
TO: centerspan@peach.ease.lsoft.com
When appropriate, the subject line should start with one of CenterSpan Listserv's three topics (see below), followed by a colon and a more specific subject, such as:
SUBJECT: Kidney: Transplant renal artery stenosis
Next, write your message in the body of the email and send it. Your post will automatically be sent to all members of the CenterSpan Listserv once it is approved by a moderator. You will also receive a copy as confirmation that the server received your
post and successfully sent it.
Topics
We have established three topic areas for the CenterSpan Listserv. Topics in the subject line allow recipients to rapidly identify the area covered by the post. The topics are:
If you don't use a topic prefix when one is appropriate, your post will still be distributed.
If interest is shown, the co-moderators may decide to add additional topic areas. Please send email regarding the creation of topic areas (or other issues relating to management of the list) to one of the co-moderators: Anna Shults (Anna.Shults@asts.org)
or Diane Mossholder (diane.mossholder@asts.org).
Responding To Messages
To respond to a message from CenterSpan Listserv, just reply as you would to any other email. If your email program gives you control over which header field becomes the addressee, use the "reply-to" field.
Archive
If you already subscribe to mailing lists, you know that the biggest headache is keeping track of the messages that accumulate over time. If the mailing list is very active, it is easy to forget which messages are most useful to you. We have a cure: CenterSpan
maintains an online archive:
http://PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM/archives/CENTERSPAN.html (subscriber password required)
As soon as a message gets posted, it is also entered in the web archive. In the archive, you can search for any term in the headers or bodies of the messages, or you can browse through all past messages, organized by date or subject.
Digest
Another way to keep the volume of individual messages down is to change your subscription mode. By default, you will receive individual messages as they are posted to CenterSpan Listserv. You may also opt to have your CenterSpan Listserv messages delivered
in digest format. Rather than individual messages, you will get one message that collects all the posts for a given period. We have set the default interval to weekly, but in busy periods a digest will be issued as soon as a certain number of messages
accumulate.
That line should be the entire body of your message. Remove or cancel any signature block you use. You can leave the subject field blank. The server will reply to you to confirm that your subscription has been changed to digest mode. You will start receiving
digests at the next regularly scheduled posting of the digest.
Generally, you should use digest only if you intend to respond to few or none of the messages. Replying to an individual message from a digest requires you to clip the message out of the digest, copy it into a new email (if you want to quote any of the message), recreate the subject line, and enter the email address (centerspan@peach.ease.lsoft.com) in the "to:" field. None of this is difficult, but it can be a nuisance.
That line should be the entire body of your message. Remove or cancel any signature block you use. You can leave the subject field blank. The server will reply to you to confirm that your subscription has been changed to normal mode. You will start receiving
new posts immediately.
Selecting Topics
Although the CenterSpan Listserv is intended as a mailing list focused on transplantation issues, some people may want to hone down their subscription even further. To do this, we have designated three "topics" ("topic" is a special term in Listserv, a subcategory within the entire mailing list). These topics are kidney, liver, and heart.
As outlined in "SENDING AND RECEIVING MESSAGES," assign your message a particular topic by making it the first word in your subject field, followed by a colon (e.g., liver: hepatitis-c). System prefixes may appear before the topic term (e.g., re:liver:
hepatitis-c). Any message whose subject does not start with one of the topic terms will be understood as being in a default topic: other.
When you subscribe to the CenterSpan Listserv, you will receive the posts from all topics. You can alter your CenterSpan Listserv subscription to include or exclude one or more topics by sending a "set topics" command. To remove a topic from a full set,
use a minus sign immediately in front of the term. To reverse the action, use a plus sign.
If there is no plus sign or minus sign, the system understands that you are sending the complete set of topics you want.
Status of Your Subscription
If you are ever confused about what topics you receive or what format or mode of subscription you've elected, you can issue a "query" command:
The server will send you a message showing all your current subscription selections.
To summarize, there are two email addresses you may use in interacting with CenterSpan Listserv. Each serves a distinct purpose, and it is important to understand the differences.
To "unsubscribe," send a command to the server from the computer address where you receive CenterSpan Listserv.
That line should be the entire body of your message. Remove or cancel any signature block. You can leave the subject field blank. The server will reply to you confirming that your subscription has been canceled. Your email MUST originate from the email address under which you are subscribed to CenterSpan.
There are many more commands for controlling a Listserv mailing list subscription. You can get a quick synopsis at any time by asking for help.
Within minutes, you will receive an email with a summary of all the available commands for CenterSpan Listserv. If that does not help, you can email the list owners. For content and policy questions, send your message to either of the co-moderators: Diane Mossholder (diane.mossholder@asts.org) or Anna Shults (anna.shults@asts.org)