Email: Mailing List: Mailman: FAQ

Article ID: 835

Mailman FAQ

Below is a list of commonly asked questions and answers related to Mailman list administration. If you do not find the the answers you are looking for or have additional questions, please Contact Support.

1. HOW DO I SEND MESSAGES TO MY MAILING LIST?
2. HOW DO I CHANGE THE CONFIGURATION SETTINGS FOR A MAILING LIST I OWN?
3. HOW DO I ADD USERS TO MY MAILING LIST?
4. HOW DO I REMOVE USERS FROM MY MAILING LIST?
5. HOW DO I DISPLAY A CURRENT LISTING OF USERS ON MY MAILING LIST?
6. HOW DO NON-USERS SUBSCRIBE TO MY LIST?
7. HOW DO I PREVENT A SPECIFIC EMAIL ADDRESS FROM SUBSCRIBING TO MY LIST?
8. HOW DO USERS ON MY LIST MANUALLY UNSUBSCRIBE OR MODIFY SETTINGS FOR THEIR SUBSCRIPTION?
9. HOW DO I MAKE MY LIST OPEN (PUBLIC) OR CLOSED (PRIVATE)?
10. HOW DO I MAKE MY LIST A DISCUSSION LIST?
11. HOW DO I MAKE MY LIST A MODERATED DISCUSSION LIST?
12. HOW DO I MAKE MY LIST A ONE-WAY ANNOUNCEMENT OR NEWSLETTER LIST?
13. HOW DO I SPECIFY AN EMAIL ADDRESS AS ADMIN AND/OR MODERATOR?
14. HOW DO I CHANGE THE ADMIN AND/OR MODERATOR PASSWORD(S)?
15. HOW DO I SPECIFY A USER AS MODERATED ON MY LIST?
16. WHY IS THE 'NOMAIL' CHECKBOX CHECKED ON SOME SUBSCRIBERS?
17. HOW DO I DISABLE A USER FROM RECEIVING LIST POSTINGS WHILE STILL RETAINING THE USER ON MY LIST?
18. HOW DO I CHANGE THE NAME OF MY LIST?
19. HOW DO I CHANGE THE DESCRIPTION OF MY LIST?
20. HOW DO I CHANGE THE MAXIMUM MESSAGE SIZE OF A POST TO THE LIST?
21. HOW DO I PREVENT THE USER EMAIL ADDRESSES FROM SHOWING ON A LIST POSTING?
22. HOW DO I FILTER POSTINGS WITH SPECIFIC HEADER INFORMATION?
23. HOW DO I AUTOMATICALLY REMOVE USERS WITH INVALID/UNREACHABLE (BOUNCING) EMAIL ADDRESSES?
24. CAN I SET MY LIST TO AUTO-RESPOND TO ANY USER THAT POSTS A MESSAGE?
25. HOW DO I ENABLE CONTENT FILTERING ON MY LIST?
26. HOW DO I CONFIGURE MY LIST TO FILTER POSTINGS WITH A SPECIFIC TOPIC?
27. WHAT POSSIBLE ADDRESSES ARE USED BY MAILMAN?
28. CAN I GET AN @MYDOMAIN MAILING LIST?
29. WHY DOES REPLYING TO MODERATOR EMAILS NOT PROPERLY DISCARD HELD MESSAGES?
30. WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MAILMAN?
31. GLOSSARY:
    1. Administrative Password
    2. Announcement List
    3. Closed Subscriber Policy
    4. Digest Mode
    5. Discussion List
    6. List Moderator
    7. List Administrator
    8. Moderated User
    9. Open Subscriber Policy
    10. Requested Mailing List Name

Sending a message to your mailing list is as easy as opening your favorite email client and sending an email to the list address. Depending on your settings (discussion vs. announcement list) you may need to approve your message before it is posted to the entire list.

It is recommended you test your list with a small number of addresses to get a feel for how it works before you put the list into production.

**To change the configuration settings for your mailing list you need to access the administrative interface. The administrative interface can be accessed by entering the name of your list under the admin login section at the following link:

http://www.frii.com/myfrii/mailinglists/

**You can also access your list directly by visiting:

http://www.frii.com/mailinglists/admin/YOURLISTNAME

To add users to the list, access the administrative interface and select:

(Membership Management... > Mass Subscriptions).

**To add a small number of users, add the email addresses in the box specified as needed, and click the 'Submit Changes' button.

**To add a large number of users at once, create and save a plain text file on your computer using a program such as Notepad containing one address per line. Then enter the name of the file in the specified field or click browse to find the file on your computer. Finally click the 'Submit Changes' button to add those users.

NOTE: It is always a good idea to check the Membership List after adding addresses to ensure they have been successfully added.

To remove users from the list, select:

(Membership Management... > Membership List).

**Place a check mark in the 'unsub' box (to the left of user email address) and click the 'Submit Changes' button. Any email address that contains a check mark in the 'unsub' column will be removed from the list.

Users can also be removed from the list via:

(Membership Management... > Mass Removal).

**Add one or more user email addresses in the box and click the 'Submit Changes' button. Any email address specified in the box will be removed from the mailing list.

Additionally, to unsubscribe a large number of addresses at once, create and save a plain text file on your computer using a program such as Notepad containing one address per line. Then enter the name of the file in the specified field or click browse to find the file on your computer. Finally click the 'Submit Changes' button to remove those users.

NOTE: It is always a good idea to check the Membership List after removing addresses to ensure they have been successfully removed.

To display current 'users' subscribed to the list, select:

(Membership Management... > Membership List).

**All users and their options will be displayed.

Subscription by non-users is determined by the configuration of your list.

**If list subscription is closed users cannot subscribe without your approval or through manual subscription.

**If it is an unadvertised list with open subscription you can direct them to the list information page for your list at:

        http://www.frii.com/mailinglists/listinfo/YOUR-LIST-NAME

**If the list is publicly advertised with open subscription, a subscription form (containing email address, name, and password) resides on the general-info page for the mailing list.

Once the form is filled out and submitted, the user will receive a confirmation email to the email address specified. Depending on your list configuration you may need to approve this request first and they may need to reply to the email to confirm subscription.

To prevent an email address from gaining membership on the list, enter the desired email address in the 'List of addresses which are banned from membership..' field via:

(Privacy Options > Subscription Rules).

**Any email address requesting membership to the list will be checked against banned email addresses, and be denied subscription if a match is found.

The 'Unsubscribe or edit options' button on the general-info page allows the user to unsubscribe from the list, or access the options affecting their subscription.

If you would like anyone in the world to be able to subscribe to your list you should advertise the list to the public and allow anyone to subscribe to the list.

(Privacy Options > Subscription rules).

Advertise this list when people ask what lists are on this machine? (Yes)
What steps are required for subscription? (Confirm)

**If you would like to close your list and make it private you should select 'No' for the advertising option and choose one of the 'Approve' options for subscription.

First, log into the administrative interface, then follow the instructions below.

(General Options).

Where are replies to list messages directed? (This List)

(Privacy Options > Sender Filters).

By default, should new list member postings be moderated? (No)

(Membership Management > Membership List).

Set everyone's moderation bit, including those members not currently visible. (Off)

(Auto-responder settings).

Finally, confirm that you do not have any auto-responders set stating that the only the list administrator can post to the list.

First, log into the administrative interface and then follow the instructions below.

(Privacy Options > Sender Filters).

By default, should new list member postings be moderated? (Yes)
Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list. (Hold)
Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit action is defined. (Hold)

(Membership Management > Membership List).

Set everyone's moderation bit, including those members not currently visible (On)

Now that everyone has their moderation bit on (which means their posts are subject to moderator approval) and "Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list" is Hold, the administrator will have to approve their own posts. You could turn off the moderation bit for moderators' email addresses, but this is not as secure because email addresses can be easily forged.

You can customize these settings as you like, but to prevent unauthorized people from posting to you list, always have their moderation bit(flag) on. You should always keep "By default, should new list member postings be moderated?" set to "Yes" so new members are also moderated.

First, log into the administrative interface and then follow the instructions below.

(Privacy Options > Subscription Rules).

Who can view subscription list? (List admin only)

(Privacy Options > Sender Filters).

By default, should new list member postings be moderated? (Yes)
Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list. (Hold)
Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit action is defined. (Hold)

(Auto-responder settings).

Should Mailman send an auto-response to mailing list posters? (Yes)
Auto-response text to send to mailing list posters:
"Sorry, only the site administrator can post to this list."
Number of days between auto-responses: (0)

(Membership Management > Membership List).

Set everyone's moderation bit, including those members not currently visible (On)

Now that everyone has their moderation bit on (which means their posts are subject to moderator approval) and "Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list" is Hold, the administrator will have to approve their own posts. You could turn off the moderation bit for moderators' email addresses, but this is not as secure because email addresses can be easily forged.

You can customize these settings as you like, but to prevent unauthorized people from posting to you list, always have their moderation bit(flag) on. You should always keep "By default, should new list member postings be moderated?" set to "Yes" so new members are also moderated.

To designate Admin and Moderator, add email addresses to the Admin/Moderator fields via:

(General Options).

**It may be a good idea to specify Admin and Moderator passwords at this time.

Enter and confirm the new password for Admin and Moderator via:

(Passwords).

**NOTE: This option designates the user as moderated, not moderator!**

To specify users as Moderated, select:

(Membership Management... > Mass Subscriptions).

**Place a check mark in the 'mod' box (to the right of User email address) and click on the 'Submit Changes' button. Any email address that contains a check mark in the 'mod' column will be designated as Moderated. To specify ALL users as Moderated, select 'On' for the 'Set everyone's moderation bit, including those members not currently visible' option, at the bottom of the page.

The "nomail" checkbox indicates that the user has probably temporarily disabled delivery or mail delivery has been disabled by the bounce processing system. If an email address does not exist or is otherwise non-deliverable, the bounce message is handled by the Mailman software, and the user is removed after a configurable amount of time.

To prevent a user from receiving messages on the list:

(Membership Management... > Membership List).

**Place a check mark in the 'nomail' box and click on the 'Submit Changes' button. Any email address that contains a check mark in the 'nomail' column will not receive messages posted on the list.

The displayed case of the list name can be changed via:

(General Options).

If you wish to entirely change the name of the list you will need to contact our Sales Department to coordinate this change.

Enter the desired list description via:

(General Options).

Click on 'General Options'under Configuration Categories

Find "Maximum length in kilobytes (KB) of a message body. Use 0 for no limit.", make the change and Submit Your Changes

Check the Yes option under the 'Hide the sender' field on:

(General Options).

**The list email address will replace the address of user.

To specify specific header information that the list will look for, select:

(Privacy options > Spam Filters).

**Any posting that matches the header information specified will be held for Administrator or Moderator review.

To access Bounce options for the list, select:

(Bounce processing).

**Bounce options allow the list to remove users with invalid/unreachable email addresses; after a certain number of bounce back messages have been generated, the list subscription of the bouncing user is removed.

Yes. To change auto-responding options for the list, select:

(Auto-responder).

**The ability to auto-respond, as well as an auto-response message and number of auto-responses on postings can be configured here.

To prevent specific content from reaching the list, select:

(Content filtering).

**Narrow filtering for specific attachments can be accomplished through describing the type and subtype of attachment, i.e. image/gif or image/jpg. Wide filtering for attachments is achieved through describing the type and not the subtype; image (with no subtype specified).

To assign specific criteria that the list will search for, select:

(Topics).

**Number of body-message lines and specific keywords can be set.

The possible address are:

      LISTNAME@frii.com
      LISTNAME-admin@frii.com
      LISTNAME-bounces@frii.com
      LISTNAME-confirm@frii.com
      LISTNAME-join@frii.com
      LISTNAME-leave@frii.com
      LISTNAME-owner@frii.com
      LISTNAME-request@frii.com
      LISTNAME-subscribe@frii.com
      LISTNAME-unsubscribe@frii.com

At this time we are only offering @frii.com mailing lists. However, with a few configuration changes to your Mailman list and the addition of a few email aliases for your domain you should be able to successfully masquerade the @frii.com list as your own private list. We have made the following steps available to help you make these changes.

Host name this list prefers for email. (YOURDOMAIN.COM)