[Mailman-Users] True Stories: Personalization

[Sheryl Coe]

As soon as I turned on personalization I got one complaint because one 
sub--scriber who thought that their email address and password had been 
mailed to the ENTIRE LIST as an example. (This is True.)  ...and I didn't 
think they'd notice the change. Then another person, sub--scribed under 
multiple email addresses complained that they couldn't access ALL their 
subscriptions from one user page, as promised. So I updated my personalized 
footer, it now states the options are specific to the email address.

Here's my own humble how-to, assembled shamelessly from previous posts to 
this Mailman list.

<#> WHAT PERSONALIZATION LOOKS LIKE

 > This personalization example is from this Mailman list (urls are not 
real, do not click):

>This message was sent to: test8 at subscriber.net
>Unsubscribe or change your options at
>http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/test8%40subscriber.net

 > This is what I recommend (urls are not real, do not click):
>_______________________________________________
>GENERAL LIST INFORMATION:
>
>The TEST mailing list
>TEST at lists.listsdomain.net
>http://www.listdomain.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/test
>_______________________________________________
>YOUR PERSONAL SUBSCRIBER OPTIONS:
>
>Unsubscribe or choose new options at
>http://www.listdomain.net/mailman/options.cgi/test/test8%40subscriber.net
>
>For all lists you are subscribed to at
>    lists.listdomain.net
>under the email address
>    test8 at subscriber.net
>your current password is
>    notarealpass
>_______________________________________________

<#> CHANGES YOU MAKE TO THE mm_cfg.py FILE

I pasted the lines below to make personalization possible.

>  From the FAQ: Q. Can I put the user's address in the footer that Mailman 
> adds to each message?
>A. Yes, in Mailman 2.1. The site admin needs to enable personalization by 
>setting the following variables in the mm_cfg.py file
>
>VERP_PASSWORD_REMINDERS = 1 VERP_PERSONALIZED_DELIVERIES = 1 
>VERP_DELIVERY_INTERVAL = 1 VERP_CONFIRMATIONS = 1

If you want to give the power to your list owners:

>OWNERS_CAN_ENABLE_PERSONALIZATION = 1

<#> HOW TO SET UP PERSONALIZATION FOR LIST ADMINS

It's all done in the NON-DIGEST OPTIONS screen:

<#><#>Go to the option for "Should Mailman personalize each non-digest 
delivery?"

"Select No to disable personalization and send messages to the members in 
batches. Select Yes to personalize deliveries and allow additional 
substitution variables in message headers and footers (see below). In 
addition, by selecting Full Personalization, the To header of posted 
messages will be modified to include the member's address instead of the 
list's posting address. "

<#><#>Go to the option for "Footer added to mail sent to regular list members."

Paste this text:

_______________________________________________
GENERAL LIST INFORMATION:

The %(real_name)s mailing list
%(real_name)s@%(host_name)s
%(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s
_______________________________________________
YOUR PERSONAL SUBSCRIBER OPTIONS:

Unsubscribe or choose new options at
%(user_optionsurl)s

For all lists you are subscribed to at
     %(host_name)s
under the email address
     %(user_delivered_to)s
your current password is
     %(user_password)s
_______________________________________________

END OF HOW-TO SET UP PERSONALIZATION

Has anyone tried it and had to stop due to performance issues, how bad is 
the drag?

Also, I really wanted to include a one-click unsubscribe. But I'm sure that 
many subscribers are having mail forwarded and it would only frustrate 
them. Any solutions?

I would think that it would significantly lower support costs to be able to 
include an options url and the password in every message.  I'd love to hear 
how this works out for other list owners.

Sheryl Coe