[Mailman-Users] MM 2.1: how to set up moderated lists

[Jeff A. Earickson]

Y'all,

   After much head-banging, I have *finally* figured out how
to configure Mailman 2.1 to do a newsletter-only style list.
I have updated FAQ 3.11 to reflect my findings.  My initial
assumptions are:

* postings to the list by nonmembers should be rejected.
* postings to the list by subscribers should also be rejected,
  politely.
* The moderator should be able to send email to the list and
  just have it go out the door, without having to screw
  with "tend administrative requests" on the admin webpage.

The easiest way to configure a list to do this is to dump out
the configuration settings via "config_list", edit the file,
and reload the file into Mailman.

Here are the steps, assuming "foobar" is the list name and
"joeblow at big.com" is the moderator:

config_list -o foobar foobar

Edit the file "foobar" and change the following options:

default_member_moderation = 1
member_moderation_action = 1
generic_moderation_action = 2
moderator = ['joeblow at big.com']
member_moderation_notice = 'Sorry, subscribers cannot post to this list.'

In member_moderation_notice, put in whatever polite note that you
deem appropriate for rejecting a subscriber's attempted post.  The
default message is rude and should be changed.

Now reload your changes from the file:

config_list -i foobar foobar

One final step is needed so that the moderator can post to the
list without doing "tend administrative requests".  Go to the
admin webpage for the list and UNCHECK the "mod" button for the
moderator ONLY.  All subscribers to the list  should have the
"mod" button turned ON, except for the moderator.  This assumes
that the moderator is also subscribed to the list.

-----------------------------------
Jeff A. Earickson, Ph.D
Senior UNIX Sysadmin and Email Guru
Information Technology Services
Colby College, 4214 Mayflower Hill,
Waterville ME, 04901-8842
phone: 207-872-3659 (fax = 3076)
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