List Configuration

Subscribe the administrator or list manager to the list (2 steps)

Warning: the list administrator is not automatically subscribed to the list he will manage. We will subscribe him. This is not mandatory, but is certainly useful for these examples and in the usual case...

In the main menu, click the link "Membership Management..." (4th line, 1st column), then click "Mass Subscription" and change the values as follow:

Subscribe these users now or invite them?	Suscribe
Send welcome messages to new subscribees?	YES
Send notifications of new subscriptions to the list owner?	YES

Then write the following email in the big text field named "Enter one address per line below...."
toto@alternc.org and validate your changes.
We will change those options in the list configuration later on, depending on the kind of list we will configure.

Then, in the menu called "Membership Management", click the link "Membership List".

In the list, you can add the name of the administrator in the text field (here Toto Admin).
You have to uncheck the "mod" checkbox so that the administrator can write to the list and will not be moderated.

Check the welcome message and subscribing message received by the administrator.

You may allow the administrator or any other email to write to the list without being subscribed. We will show this option later.

Warning: before subscribing users, it is mandatory to :

• define the kind of list as seen in the previous chapter.
• configure this list depending on the kind of list you chose. The options we will see later may not be perfect or enough for your usage. Mailman is a very powerful tool with many options, this documentation only aim at showing you the most common ones.

We can start by configuring some basic options.

To prevent the screen capture overhead, we will not show you screen captures, but only tables showing the options we will use, as seen in the administrator interface.
A title line we will add in this document will help you know which option you should use depending on the kind of list you are configuring.

Set the list to be public or private (2 steps)

1 - In the general menu, click the link "Privacy options..." (at the top, 2nd column) and change the values as follow:

Subscribing
Setup

Kind of list	Mailing-list, Newsletter	Private discussion list	Public discussion list
Advertise this list when people ask what lists are on this machine?	NO	NO	YES
What steps are required for subscription?	Require approval	Require approval	Confirm
Is the list moderator’s approval required for unsubscription requests? (No is recommended)	NO (This parameter is very important: anyone should be able to refuse its subscription to the list)

Membership exposure
Setup

Kind of list	Mailing-list, Newsletter	Private discussion list	Public discussion list
Who can view subscription list?	List admin only	List members Even if the list is public, you’d better not make the subscribe list public (due to spam)
Show member addresses so they’re not directly recognizable as email addresses?	YES (this option is not important here since the subscribe list is only available to the administrator, but it’s always good to do so)	YES	YES

2 - In the general menu, click the link "Archiving Options" (3rd line, 2nd column) and change the values as follow:

Kind of list	Mailing-list, Newsletter	Private discussion list	Public discussion list
Archive messages? ?	YES	YES	YES ou NO
Is archive file source for public or private archival?	Private	Private	Public
How often should a new archive volume be started?	(choose what you want here)

Warning: never forget to validate your changes by clicking the button

Manage message sending / receiving

In the general menu, click the link "Privacy options ..." (at the top, 2nd column) then the link "Sender filters" and change the options as follow:

Member filters
Setup

Kind of list	Mailing-list, Newsletter	Private discussion list	Public discussion list
By default, should new list member postings be moderated?	YES	NO or YES	NO
Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list.	Reject	Discard	Discard
Text to include in any rejection notice to be sent to moderated members who post to this list.	Text example as follow	Don’t write anything here, an automatic mail will be sent

Here is a text example you may write as a reject mail for your mailing lists:

This is an automatic email.
Your mailing cannot be sent to the subscribers of this mailing-list
If you want to join the list administrator, please send your mail to toto@alternc.org

Non-member filters
Setup

Kind of list	Mailing-list, Newsletter	Private discussion list	Public discussion list
List of non-member addresses whose postings will be immediately held for moderation.	NO