Publicity Guide page	Responsibilities page	Publicity channels page	Planning page	Website tie-ins & tracking page
Mass emails : page	IEEE-CIS ListServers page	SENDER Instructions page	EDITOR Instructions page	OWNER Instructions page

Conference Guides for [IEEE-CIS, INNS] conferences : Although this guide was initially set up for IJCNN2019, and was used for IEEE WCCI 2020, hopefully some of the basic information may still help [organising committee members, authors] up to 2023-2025 (assuming a half-life of links and process information of 3-5 years?). The Authors' and Publications menus have been combined, allowing authors to see the Publications Chair perspective as well. I am no longer keeping this up to date. Bill Howell, 11Dec2020

Mass email OWNER instructions

Introduction
[Roles, Responsibilities, Access] for OWNERS
Email servers - other than IEEE-CIS ListServers
Add a new email list to one of the IEEE-CIS ListServers
Special problem with an email file import
Approved email address for SENDERs
Approval of a SENDER's email for sendout by the server
Analyse responses
Configuration of IEEE-CIS ListServers
Initial request to set up an IEEE ListServer
IEEE ListServ initial response to setup request
IEEE ListServ setup confirmation
IEEE information about the IEEE ListServers

Introduction :

The IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (IEEE-CIS) [sole,co]-sponsors a large number of [conferences, symposia, workshops, etc] (referred to generically as "conferences" in the rest of the web-page). Starting with WCCI2020, a number of IEEE ListServers have been set up so that recipients may [sub, unsub]-scribe to the conferences for which they will receive publicity mass emails. As of summer 2019, only the WCCI2020 ListServer is actually being used, but the lists will be available to other conferences for their future use if they decide to use them.

Note that a basic IEEE-CIS policy is that a maximum of 8 mass emails are allowed to publicize any conference, with one or perhaps two additional emails being allowed by the IEEE-CIS President for exceptional situations. Additional emails mostly arise where serious mistakes have been made in emails, or special issues arise requiring one more email.

General information about the IEEE-CIS ListServers can be found via the links on the Menu above. This web-page focusses specifically on OWNERS.

[Roles, Responsibilities, Access] for OWNERS

A number of roles for server administration are given in the "LISTERV documentation" (see the "Further information" section below), but it's worth noting :

OWNERs

understand and apply the mass email policies of [INNS, IEEE-CIS]
have administrative rights for the servers.
with the IEEE-CIS ListServers, only owners may [access, view, edit] the subscriber lists, which is far more secure than emailing lists to Publicity Chairs for each conference, plus updates to the lists are handled and passed on properly from year-to-year.
can usually [review, approve] of an email for distribution by the ListServer, although they can opt not to
add [SENDER, EDITOR] email addresses that assume those responsibilities
modify the configuration of the ListServer
Presumably the owners will be multi-year designates from the IEEE-CIS executive? Tomasz Cholewo would also be a "quiet owner" (quiet because he would not have to receive all messages ffrom the IEEE-CIS ListServers), meaning that lists could be updated directly from his conference paper system.

The initial mass email lists plus regular updates come from IEEE-CIS author lists for each of the conferences. Occasionally, publicly available emails or lists from related conferences are also obtained. However, the IEEE-CIS ListServers, allow end-user control of their subscriptions, including new users who learn of the lists.

Email servers - other than IEEE-CIS ListServers

As far as I know, nobody's using IEEE ListServers for conference publicity other than WCCI2020, and it's not at all certain that use will continue.
While this "Publicity Guide" website now contains much of the information relevant to SENDERs, an older document may still have some extra useful information in it for OWNERs.

INNS mass HOLDERS instructions.odt

This includes links to [program, script] code that I've used to maintain and track mass email lists.

Authorisation to [posses, forward] [WCCI, IJCNN] mass email lists

The mass email policies of [INNS, IEEE-CIS]), require the joint [INNS, IEEE-CIS] President's approval of any and all OWNERs, which gives the latter [access to, possession of] the list of mass email addresses for a specific conference.

Permission must also come jointly from the [INNS, IEEE-CIS] Presidents to forward a conference mass email list to another OWNER (see the example request). This must be done in a secure manner as specified in the policies.

Add a new email list to one of the IEEE-CIS ListServers

Updating email lists by using text files from another source is best done with text-processing commands to prepare the lists in the proper format for ListServers. As a general rule this will include :

compare the new list to existing ListServer lists - this will show how many new email addresses are added, and whether new names are assigned to email addresses
reformat the new email list so the ListServe can properly add it
add the new email list to all of the [CEC, FUZZ, IJCNN, WCCI] ListServers that should have it

Click the title link for this section to see a couple of examples, with detailed steps and bash coding to do the work. This is in a very primitive (brutal) state, but it is far more exact than merely talking about the process!!

Special problem with an email file import

06Jan2020 While attempting to import the CEC email list from Tomasz Cholewo's paper system, the WCCI (and CEC) ListServers choked, giving the error message :
"The file your browser uploaded looks like a binary file. This function requires a plain text file and will not work with word processor documents, spreadsheets or the like."

I solved this by splitting the file to eventually find the problematic line and recover the emails.
The problem was with : "Sorensen, Kenneth"
Note the "^?"
I changed this to : "Sorensen, Kenneth"

Approved email addresses for SENDERs

Typically with email servers, you can only use your pre-approved emails addresses to send a mass email to the email server, as emails received from your other un-approved email addresses are simply ignored.

That is certainly the case with [WCCI, IJCNN] conferences as per the mass email policies of [INNS, IEEE-CIS]). An OWNER can change the server settings so that it will [accept, hold] a SENDER's email. Each email must be approved by an [EDITOR, OWNER] before it is finally sent out to the mass email distribution list.

My suggestion is that SENDERs use an alternate send-from email address that is different from their normal email addresses, as the latter can be "flooded" with responses to a mass email. Filtering is a simple option as well. OWNERs can advise SENDERs of this choice.

Approval of a SENDER's email for sendout by the server

One a SENDER has sent an email to an IEEE-CIS ListServer, it must be checked and approved before allowing the ListServer to distribute the mass email to its email list. Note that this approval can also be given by EDITORS, depending on the authorities given to them.

You will receive email notification that an email was received from a legitimate SENDER
Click on the attached mass email to review the content and ensure that :
- it is appropriate
- [links, mailtos, images, etc] work properly

Double-check that the right list is being used : one of [FUZZ, CEC, CIBCB, SSCI, IJCNN, WCCI2020 (tester)]
Make sure the right mass email posting was sent! (sometimes the wrong version is sent)

Analyse responses

As with my old [WCCI, IJCNN] mass emailing system, I find it useful to analyse responses to the mass emails. The following provide key-[words, phrases] for classifying responses. Additional information comes back to the OWNER, as when people join or leave the lists.

... 25Oct2019 - I need to elaborate on this, later. The following is an incomplete list of the classes of responses that should be handled (for my purposes, anyways) ...
... 07Nov2019 - much greater detail on keywords is in INNS mass HOLDERS instructions.odt

Daily error monitoring report

User signed off
just signed off

User joined
just subscribed

Other error reports
error report

Waiting :

Moved
You should use instead the new address

To "bad addresses" :
- User unknown
- Mail content denied
- No such recipient
- The e-mail address you entered couldn't be found
- mailbox exceeds quota
- user is over quota

Permissions
- Mail content denied
- Recipient email server rejected the message

I need to handle this type of response :
- X-Bayes-Prob: 0.9999 (Score 5, tokens from: default, @@RPTN)
- X-Spam-Score: 2.20 (**) [Hold at 7.00]

???
designate permitted sender hosts (does not designate permitted sender hosts)

Configuration of IEEE-CIS ListServers

Here is the "" file that specifies the configuration of the IEEE-CIS publicity-fuzz-ieee ListServer. It can be viewed after logging into the system :

List Management Dashboard -> select "[Configure]" for publicity-fuzz-ieee -> look at the "Edit Manually" box : Note that it is safer to change configurations with the individual tabs available on the same web-page, rather than directly change the text in the box, which can cause problems.

*
* ** IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems **
*
* .HH ON
*
* X-Tags= Yes
*
* Change-Log= Yes,Yearly
*
* Notify= Yes
* Notebook= No
*
* Owner= Bill@BillHowell.ca,Quiet:,
* Owner=
* Maintainer: Bill Howell
* Member Number: 41565049
* Telephone: 1-587-707-2027
* Responsible Entity: Society
*
* Send= Owner,Confirm
*
* Subscription= Open,Confirm
* Review= Owner
*
* Confidential= Yes
*
* Reply-To= Sender,Respect
*
* Validate= Yes,Confirm
*
* Default-Options= REPRO,NOACK,IETFHDR
*
* Auto-Delete= Yes,Semi-Auto,Delay(4),Max(8),Probe(30)
*
* Safe= Yes
* Digest= No
* Filter= also
*
* LoopCheck= Full,Spam-Delay(0)
*
* Sender= None,publicity-fuzz-ieee@listserv.ieee.org
*
* .HH OFF
*
* Purpose: This list is used to send out "mass emails" to publicize the FUZZ-IEEE
* conference, including even-years when it is part of the "World Congress on
* Computational Intelligence" (WCCI). Normally, a maximum of 8 mass emails are
* permitted for any IEEE Computational Intelligence Society conference.

Initial request to set up an IEEE ListServer

Example : publicity-fuzz-ieee

Here is the information that I input :

This list is used to send out "mass emails" to publicize the FUZZ-IEEE conference, including even-years when it is part of the "World Congress on Computational Intelligence" (WCCI). Normally, a maximum of 8 mass emails are permitted for any IEEE Computational Intelligence Society conference.

Listserv Mailing-List Application Confirmation
Request for addition of Listserv Mailing-List:
----------------------------------------------
Mailing-List Name: publicity-fuzz-ieee
Description: IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems
Maintainer: Bill Howell
Address of Maintainer: Bill@BillHowell.ca
Member Number: 41565049
Staff Contact Person:
BounceAddress: Bill@BillHowell.ca
Telephone: 1-587-707-2027
Responsible Entity: Society
Subscriptions: Open
Posting access: Owner -
Notify: Yes
Acknowledgement: No
Service: No
Replies-To: Sender
Review: Owner
Hidden: No
Notebook: No
Your request has been sent to listserv-owner@listserv.ieee.org
Please allow at least ONE WEEK for Processing

IEEE ListServ initial response to setup request

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Listserv Mailing-List: publicity-fuzz-ieee
Date: Mon, 27 May 2019 18:19:47 -0400
From: Listserv Administrator
Reply-To: Listserv Administrator
Organisation: IEEE Service Center, Piscataway, NJ
To: Bill@BillHowell.ca

Your request has been queued for the Administration Team. New lists creations are prioritize as they are received, please allow at least 3 to 5 Business Days for Processing.

> Request for addition of Listserv Mailing-List:
> ----------------------------------------------
> Mailing-List Name: publicity-fuzz-ieee
> Description: IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems
> Maintainer: Bill Howell
> Address of Maintainer: Bill@BillHowell.ca
> Member Number: 41565049
> Staff Contact Person: > BounceAddress: Bill@BillHowell.ca
> Telephone: 1-587-707-2027
> Responsible Entity: Society
> Subscriptions: Open
> Posting access: Owner - > Notify: Yes
> Acknowledgement: No
> Service: No
> Replies-To: Sender
> Review: Owner
> Hidden: No
> Notebook: No

IEEE ListServ setup confirmation

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Listserv: publicity-fuzz-ieee Addition Request
Date: Tue, 28 May 2019 11:49:05 -0400
From: IEEE Postmaster
To: Bill@billhowell.ca

The PUBLICITY-FUZZ-IEEE list has been successfully created.
Your request to establish a new mailing list is now completed and it will be functional later this evening after 6:30PM.
Any email sent prior to the list being fully functional will bounce back to the sender as address unknown.

Please, visit the Listserv mailing list web interface at http://listserv.ieee.org/ to manage the list.
Use your email address provided when submitting the request to login.

The FAQ on the website provides step by step instructions on using and managing your new list. FAQ:
http://listserv.ieee.org/request/faq-listowners.html

We have installed the new list with default options, please check your mailing list configuration and modify the setting to fit your requirement before using it.
LISTSERV has also created default bottom banners with unsubscribe instruction for this list. See BOTTOM_BANNER and BOTTOM_BANNER_HTML in the mail template editor to view and customize them.

As a list owner, you can update your mailing list by visiting the list website at http://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa.
Login using your email address listed as owner. If you have not login before visit https://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?GETPW1= to create a password.
To manage your subscribers on the list do the following.

Login to Listserv and Click "List Management"
Select a list from the menu
Click on "Subscriber Management"
User "Add New Subscriber" to add individual addresses
If you have multiple addresses to remove or add use any of the options under the "Bulk Operations" tab

You can also read the documentation available on-line at http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/16.0/LISTSERV16.0_ListOwnersManual.pdf

If you have any questions or if I may be of further assistance, please contact IEEE email Administration Team.
Always sends your reply to postmaster@ieee.org for immediate attention.

Regards,

Postmaster@ieee.org
IEEE Email Administration Team
http://www.ieee.org