Part 5: Testing your list

To test your list, you need to add a few test members to receive your first messages.

DO NOT add all of your members now! You don't want your members to see your messages until your list is 100% tested and ready.

Creating test members

Click on Members from the list admin menu.

You will see two or three members: yourself and staff from Sparklist. We recommend keeping us as members during the testing phase so if you're having a problem we'll have an example if you need help.

Click on Create Member and add a test name and email address.

Repeat this until you've added as many as you think you need. Two or three is fine; 10 is probably too many (but it's up to you).

You can also add multiple members with Create Many Members. We recommend having an email account at one of the many free web-based email providers so you can test message delivery outside your own domain and get a better idea of how messages are going to look to the people to whom you are sending.

Test message via email

Send an email message to:

yourlistname@xxxx.sparklist.com

Don't use "xxxx.sparklist.com" literally! Use the domain we gave you after configuring your list (e.g., @comet.sparklist.com, @yourvirtualdomain, etc.).

Test message via the web

You can also send messages to your list using the web interface. Just follow these steps:
1. Go to the URL to log in for list admin, and log in.
2. Select List Admin.
3. Select Send Message.
4. Edit the From: field. By default, your email address will appear there.
5. Edit the To: field. By default, the To: field is set to %%nameemail%%, which will merge the name and email address of the recipient. The To: field does not actually select the message's recipients.
6. Enter the Subject: of the message. Recipients will see this line as the subject of the message they receive.
7. Enter the text message and/or HTML message that you would like to send. You may use just text or just HTML as the body, and that is what will be sent to your recipients. Or, you can create both, and send a message that contains both text and HTML. Using both is called "multi-part-alternative", and ListManager will create the correct headers and boundaries automatically. Recipients who can see HTML will only see your HTML message; those who can't, will see the text version.
8. Enter an email address which you'd like to receive a test message (optional).
9. Select Review Message and Send. You will be taken to the final confirmation page.
10. Select Confirm Message and Send. Check your email account to see the test message.
11. Select Send Message.
12. Select Moderate Messages.
13. Approve your message.

Test message checklist

• Examine your test message and make sure it contains everything you wanted, especially if you specified any header or footer text.

• If your list is a discussion list, ask your other testers to respond to the test message and observe the results. Or, respond to it yourself using another account.

• Notice the unsubscribe footer at the bottom of the messages. This unsubscribe email address is unique to each member, containing a code which identifies the member to Lyris ListManager. You can test it by sending a message to the unsubscribe address indicated. If you're an administrator it won't work (you really don't want to unsubscribe, you're the boss). Use one of your other test addresses to unsubscribe just to see how it works.

  Please note: our Usage Policy requires that you include the Lyris ListManager unsubscribe instructions in all of your messages. You may not replace them with your own unsubscribe instructions that do not unsubscribe the member directly from the list.

Moderating a message

There are two methods to approve a moderated message: via email or via the web interface. You can also schedule messages through the moderation page in the web interface.

Moderating via email:

If you moderate yourself (recommended for security reasons) you will receive a modification notification from Lyris ListManager.

The message you receive will contain the following (with a different number code, this is just an example):

login yourpassword
moderate approve 16189

To approve this message reply, delete everything up to where it says "login" and replace yourpassword with your password.

To reject the message put your password above the "moderate reject..." line, instead of the approval command.

Note: Do not replace login with your name or anything, just replace yourpassword with your password above either the approve or reject command. Your response will look something like this:

login yourpassword
moderate approve 14962

or

login yourpassword
moderate reject 14962

Note that these numbers are just an example; the numbers in the messages you receive will always be different. You will receive a message from Lyris ListManager confirming the message was either accepted or rejected.

Moderating via the web interface:

You may prefer to approve messages through the web interface. Click the Moderate button, and you will see the messages waiting for you. You can approve or reject them on the spot or read them and then take action.

Please note that there will only be messages waiting to be moderated if you have your list set up that way. If not, messages just go right through, without your approval.

Scheduling your messages:

In order to schedule messages you must have your list set to be moderated because scheduling is done through the moderation menu.

Choose to "view the message in moderation", and you will see the scheduling fields. Select the date and time and then choose Reschedule. Do not press "Approve" or it will bypass the scheduling and go out right then.

You can also choose to have the date rewritten when the message goes out, or to keep the date you sent it.

What's next?

• Part 6: Adding your members
• Getting Started main page