Mailing List Configuration
In order to view the administration settings for your mailing list, please navigate to the Help page on your site. The link to this page is normally located towards the bottom part of the site and is grouped with the Edit and Upload functions.
If a mailing list is configured for your site, you will find some brief information regarding your mailing list. In addition, you will find an appropriately title link which will enable you to send a message to your subscribers.
Clicking on the Mailing List Administration link will bring up the administration login, which you can find on the previous Help page. Enter your password and you will be presented with the options for your mailing list. Many of the options will have been preconfigured for your use, however there are some which you may find useful to change.
NOTE: On the Primary Administration page there is an option on the bottom of the page to “Set everyone’s moderation bit, including those members not currently visible”. It is of the utmost importance that his be checked as yes. A subsriber which is moderated cannot send messages to the list and thus, unless you would like otherwise, all members should be moderated.
General Options
There are many options on the General Options page many of which have a clear description of its function. However, there are some that are very important to how your list functions (option identifiers in bold blue). They are:
- Owner – enter the desired administrators for the list, most often the primary email account and contact at Thunder Data
- Moderator – same as above
- Anonymous List – selecting yes will ensure that all emails sent to subscribers will be recieved as coming from the list (ex: list@thunderdata.com)
- Reply Goes to List – in most cases selecting explicit address will ensure that replies to list messages will be directed to your primary email account
- Reply to Address – determines the email address to which the above mentioned option redirects
- Send Reminders – in most cases you will be using the list as a one-way dialogue, thus there is no need for subscribers to have passwords
Membership Management
Under membership management you will find the function which will enable you to set options for your subscribers as well as add or delete users.
Membership List
For each subscriber you will find a series of checkboxes that will enable to change specific subscriber settings.
- Unsub – selecting this will unsubscribe the selected member
- Mod – sets the moderation for the subscriber; moderated members cannot post to the list
- Digest – if selected, subscriber will recieve messages in daily emails
- Plain – if selected, subscriber will recieve messages as they are sent
Mass Subscription
On this page you can manually enter the email addresses of people you would like to add to your mailing list. Additionally, you can enter in a file that contains the email addresses and mailman will try to parse the data. Doing either, will result in a results screen showing the actions success rate. Other options on this page include:
- Selecting if addresses are automatically added or are invited to subscribe
- Sending a welcome message to the addresses added
- Sending a list of new subscribers to the new owner
These options are self-explanatory and are yes/no conditions.
Mass Removal
This page operates in much the same way as the mass subscription page only that it removes the addresses entered from the mailing list.
Privacy Options
Sender Filters
This is the primary page which determines who can and cannot use the mailing list. Thus, the selections made on this page can affect the way the mailing list operates.
- Default Member Moderation – This is probably the most important setting in the admistration application. This MUST be set as yes in order to ensure that new subscribers automatically moderated and thus cannot send messages to your subscribers
- Member Moderation Action – determines what to do with postings from moderated members. The majority of users should select Discard
- Accept These Nonmembers – In this area you can add all of the email addresses which you would like to grant the ability to use the mailing list. This will most likely be the primary email address for the site, but can also include people who may be in charge of website maintenance or marketing.
- Generic Nonmember Action – Most users should have this set to discard.
- Forward Auto Discards – Most users should have this set to No.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I enter email addresses manually?
In order to enter addresses manually, navigate to the Membership Managment -> Mass Subscription page. Select SUBSCRIBE, NO, and NO and then enter email addresses, one per line, in the textbox below. This will automatically subscribe those users bypassing the usual process of the subscriber having to confirm their subscription.
Additional Resources
For a more in-depth manual, explaining all of the functions available to mailman users, please visit the GNU Mailman – List Administration Manual by Barry A. Warsaw. In this manual, you can find an explanation for each and every option available through the administration interface.