Someone, somewhere, wanted the president of the United States to read UA listserv messages.

That someone also wanted America Online users and people at other e-mail addresses, some valid, some not, to receive university listserv mailings.

An unknown person, or persons, began subscribing addresses to the university listserv computer around 5 p.m. Sunday, said Elisabeth Landis, principal systems programmer with the Center for Computing Information and Technology.

The list of 33 e-mail users was also signed up to other listservs across the country, she said, a process known as "mail-bombing."

A listserv provides a way for a person to send an e-mail message to a group of people without having to type each recipient's e-mail address in the "To:" field. Instead, a person sends his message to "listserv.edu." and the listserv computer sends the message to all the list subscribers.

The university has listservs ranging from classes to departmental announcements and club newsletters.

Landis said a list of the university's 49 public listservs is available to anyone who sends a message to its server.

Whoever signed up the people on this list, she said, probably used a program to make the process of mass-subscribing the addresses less tedious.

There is a security function that sends a confirmation message to people who subscribe to listservs, Landis said, and she is recommending that listserv owners use this feature.

Landis said she spent yesterday morning unsubscribing the users and has not had time to try to find out who sent the subscriptions.

"I had such a storm just trying to clean up that I haven't had the chance," she said.