CSM Computing & Networking: Services: Mailman

1) What is Mailman?
(from http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/index.html)
Mailman is free software for managing electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists. Mailman is integrated with the web, making it easy for users to manage their accounts and for list owners to administer their lists. Mailman supports built-in archiving, automatic bounce processing, content filtering, digest delivery, spam filters, and more.

2) I get a security/certificate warning when going to the Mailman site. Why?
We are using a self signed certificate for encrypting traffic between you and the Mailman server. This warning is normal. It is safe to import the certificate into your browser's trusted sites or accept the certificate permanently to avoid seeing this warning in the future.

3) How do I request a Mailman e-mail list?
After reading our mailing list and mail alias policy here, a list can be requested by doing the following:
Send a text only e-mail to postmaster @ mines.edu requesting the list. E-mails containing attachments will be discarded. Lists must be requested by a Faculty or Staff member using their @Mines.EDU or @IS.Mines.EDU account. The request e-mail must contain the following:

1) Name of the list (lower case w/ no spaces)

2) List administrator's Mines e-mail address
(The main person in charge of the list. The list administrator will need to set a moderator password and add additional moderators or administrators)

3) Short description of list

4) Longer description of the list (must be more descriptive than #3 or the request will be rejected)

5) Prefix line for postings (displayed on subject line)

Once we process the request, an e-mail will be sent with administrative links and and login information. All Mailman lists must have at least one list administrator that will be in charge of daily maintenance of the list (including membership maintenance). Lists that have no list administrators will be disabled. Once the list is created the list administrator will need to add members to the list.

4) What does the Mailman interface look like?
Check out the sample screenshots.

5) When will my list expire?
Lists have a two year expiration. On the expire date, the list administrator/s will receive a warning e-mail that the list will expire. Lists can be renewed at that time. This expiration is needed to clear out old and forgotten lists that are no longer being used.

6) How do I login to the administrative interface?
http://mailman.mines.edu/mailman/admin/listname

7) How do I see all of the publicly advertised lists?
http://mailman.mines.edu/mailman/listinfo

8) How can people subscribe to the list?
http://mailman.mines.edu/mailman/listinfo/listname
Follow the subscription instructions. A confirmation e-mail may be sent and/or moderator approval may be required.

9) What is the difference between a list administrator and moderator?
There are two ownership roles associated with each mailing list. The list administrators are the people who have ultimate control over all parameters of this mailing list. They are able to change any list configuration variable available through these administration web pages.

The list moderators have more limited permissions; they are not able to change any list configuration variable, but they are allowed to tend to pending administration requests, including approving or rejecting held subscription requests, and disposing of held postings. Of course, the list administrators can also tend to pending requests.

10) How do I change the administrator or moderator password?
Clicking on the Passwords option within the administrative interface will allow you to access this function.

11) How do I add or remove people from the list?
To add, go to Membership Management then Mass subscription. You may add one address per line. Finally, submit your changes. To remove, go to Membership Management. Find the member's name, click on "Unsub" then submit your changes. Users can also subscribe to the list by sending an e-mail to LISTNAME-subscribe@mailman.mines.edu or LISTNAME-unsubscribe@mailman.mines.edu to unsubscribe. Depending on the list's configuration, the list administrator may need to approve such requests before they become active.

12) How do I make the list hidden from the listinfo page?
Privacy Options -> Subscription Rules -> "Advertise this list.." , Select (Yes) or (No) and submit changes

13) How do I discard all [spam-high] marked messages before they are held for approval?
Privacy Options -> Spam Filters Use the following (exactly) in a Spam Filter rule.

^Subject: \[spam-high\]

The preferred action is "Discard" then click submit.

14) How do I allow everyone with a @Mines.EDU address send to the list but discard messages sent from a non-Mines address?
Note: This configuration will also allow any spoofed @Mines.EDU address to be automatically accepted to the list. Unfortunately this is not a rare event. Please understand the consequence before configuring your list in this fashion.

Privacy Options -> Spam Filters use the following (exactly) in a Spam Filter rule.

from: .*@.*\.mines\.edu
from: .*@mines\.edu
sender: .*@.*\.mines\.edu
sender: .*@mines\.edu

Action - Accept

Create a second Spam Filter rule with the following:

.*

Action - Discard

Click on Privacy Options then Sender Filters. Add the following to List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted
and submit your changes.

^.*@mines.edu
^.*@is.mines.edu

15) How do I allow everyone with a @Mines.EDU address send to the list but hold messages sent from a non-Mines address?
Note: This configuration will also allow any spoofed @Mines.EDU address to be automatically accepted to the list. Unfortunately this is not a rare event. Please understand the consequence before configuring your list in this fashion.

Privacy Options -> Spam Filters use the following (exactly) in a Spam Filter rule.

from: .*@.*\.mines\.edu
from: .*@mines\.edu
sender: .*@.*\.mines\.edu
sender: .*@mines\.edu

Action - Accept

Create another Spam Filter rule with the following:

Action - HOLD

Click on Privacy Options then Sender Filters. Add the following to List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted
and submit your changes.

^.*@mines.edu
^.*@is.mines.edu

16) How do I allow anyone with a @Mines.EDU address send to the list without approval? e
Note: This configuration will also allow any spoofed @Mines.EDU address to be automatically accepted to the list. Unfortunately this is not a rare event. Please understand the consequence before configuring your list in this fashion.
list?
Click on Privacy Options then Sender Filters. Add the following to List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted
and submit your changes.

^.*@mines.edu
^.*@is.mines.edu

17) How do I allow anyone to send to the list?
Note: This configuration will allow anyone in the world to send to the list. This includes spammers.

Click on Privacy Options then Sender Filters. Add the following to List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted and submit your changes.

^.*

18) What are the options under the Membership List? A copy of the legend is available online. For reference, below is a copy of the legend.

* unsub -- Click on this to unsubscribe the member.
* mod -- The user's personal moderation flag. If this is set, postings from them will be moderated, otherwise they will be approved.
* hide -- Is the member's address concealed on the list of subscribers?
* nomail -- Is delivery to the member disabled? If so, an abbreviation will be given describing the reason for the disabled delivery:
  o U -- Delivery was disabled by the user via their personal options page.
  o A -- Delivery was disabled by the list administrators.
  o B -- Delivery was disabled by the system due to excessive bouncing from the member's address.
  o ? -- The reason for disabled delivery isn't known. This is the case for all memberships which were disabled in older versions of Mailman.
* ack -- Does the member get acknowledgements of their posts?
* not metoo -- Does the member want to avoid copies of their own postings?
* nodupes -- Does the member want to avoid duplicates of the same message?
* digest -- Does the member get messages in digests? (otherwise, individual messages)
* plain -- If getting digests, does the member get plain text digests? (otherwise, MIME)
* language -- Language preferred by the user

19) How do I know my e-mails are being sent to the list?
The easiest way is to subscribe yourself to the list. Any e-mails sent to the list will be sent to you as well.

20) We have someone that should be able to send to the list but should not be a member of the list. How can we allow them to send to the list without them being moderated?
Privacy Options -> Sender Filters -> List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted
Add one address per line and submit changes.

21) I am a list moderator and/or administrator but my posts are being held for approval. Why?
Add yourself as a member of the list with the moderation flag turned off (in Membership Management search for your name, uncheck the MOD column, save changes) or if you do not wish to be a member of the list, add your e-mail address to be automatically accepted under Privacy Options -> Sender Filters -> List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted.

22) List member's postings are being held for approval. How can I allow members on the list to send e-mails to the list without being moderated?
Membership Management, check to see if Mod is checked. If it is, uncheck and submit. To clear all list members moderation bit, choose Off under Set everyone's moderation bit, including those members not currently visible and submit changes. Newly subscribed list members may be moderated by default. If you would like to enable all new members to post messages to the list without being moderated, check under Privacy Options -> Sender Filters -> By Default, should new list member postings be moderated.

23) How can I get a list of subscribers e-mailed to me, the list administrator?
This is good if you have a long list of subscribers and find the web interface tedious for listing members. Send an e-mail to LISTNAME-request@mailman.mines.edu (use your list's name and not LISTNAME) with only the following in the body of the message:

who LIST_PASSWORD

LIST_PASSWORD should be replaced with your administrative password for the list.

24) What will list members see in the From field when they get a message sent to a Mailman list?
They will see the e-mail address you have configured in your e-mail client. This is typically your e-mail address.

25) When list members reply to a message, who does it go to?
When replying to a message sent to a list the reply will be sent, by default, to the original sender of the message. This action can be changed under the General Options tab and Where are replies to list messages directed. Poster is the default. Changing this option to "This list" or "Explicit Address" will redirect replies. If you use "Explicit Address," be sure also list the address under the "Explicit Reply-To: Header." section directly below. If the reply is sent to "reply to all" within the e-mail client, both the recipient and the list will be replied to.

26) I am list administrator for multiple lists. Can the passwords be the same?
If you wish, yes. We suggest using different moderator passwords since moderator duties are usually shared among a larger number of individuals. Administrator passwords control every function of a list while moderator passwords have more restricted access.

27) How do I add/change/remove list moderators or administrators?
List administrators and/or moderators can be updated by the current list administrator. This can be used to transfer ownership of a list to another administrator or to change who is responsible for moderating the list. When you add someone to either administrator or moderator role, you must also transfer password and login information to that person. This is not automatically done by Mailman and is the current list administrator's responsibility.
Modifying moderators or administrators can be done in General Options under "The list administrator email addresses" and "The list moderator email addresses."

28) Why do I get bounces with "Reason: too many recipients?"
An e-mail was sent to the list with a large number of other recipients in the To: or CC: fields. An example would be if you sent an e-mail message to thirty addresses with the e-mail list being one of them. This has no relation as to how many people are on the list. Mailman lists can contain thousands of members. To avoid this message, reduce the amount of people the initial e-mail is sent to (in the To: or CC: fields) or send the e-mail to only the list itself. If you still need to post to the list with a large number of recipients in the To: or CC: fields, the maximum setting of recipients will need to be increased. The default Mailman recepient limit is 10. To change this to a higher number, go to Privacy Options -> Recipient Filters, and increase the max_num_recipients. Think before changing this default setting. Most people on your list will not want to see a large number of visible addresses in a mailing list post.

29) Why do I get bounces with "Reason: Message has implicit destination?"
The e-mail message sent to the list did not have the list in the To: or CC: fields. This is common if someone sends to the list but includes the list's address in a BCC instead of sending it directly to the list in the To: or CC:. The require_explicit_destination option can be changed in the Recipient filters tab under Privacy.

30) Why do I get bounces with "Reason: Message body is too big?"
The e-mail message sent to the list is too large. This usually happens when the message contains an attachment that is larger than the allowed message body size. The message body size limit can be changed in General Options under "Maximum length in kilobytes (KB) of a message body. Use 0 for no limit." The default is 40k. It is not recommended that you use disable this feature (by setting the value to 0) since sending large attachments may cause users to go over quota.

31) I will be going on vacation (or leaving Mines). What should I do to keep the list maintained?
Be sure that the list has at least one other list administrator that will be able to maintain the list during your absence. You will need to add the new list administrator (see #27) and provide them with the list administrator's password. If they are to be a temporary list administrator, you may wish to change the administrator password prior to revealing that information to a temporary administrator (see #10).

32) Some of the attachments being sent to the list are being stripped or not being delivered with the posting.
You have content filtering enabled for this attachment type. Use the Content Filtering section and add the correct mime type for the attachment being stripped to the pass_mime_type area. As an example, if your PDF document attachment is being stripped, add application/pdf to the pass_mime_type box and submit your changes. PDF attachments will now be allowed to the list. If you wish, all content filtering may be disabled for your list by choosing No in the Filter Content area.

33) How long are messages pending moderator approval held in the queue?
Messages are automatically removed after seven days. Messages marked as spam-high that are pending moderator approval may be automatically removed at any time.

34) Are spam filter accounts available for existing Mailman lists?
The list administrator may request a spam filter quarantine account by e-mailing postmaster [@] Mines.EDU. The spam filter daily summary will be mailed to the list administrator requesting the spam filter quarantine account.

http://www.Mines.EDU/helpdesk
Last Modified: Jul 17 2007/rmh