[Mailman-Users] member_posting_only

[JC Dill]

kalin mintchev wrote:

>>	Those messages aren't approved -- they're held.
>>    
>>
>
>
>ok, Brad. thanks. sure. they are held. held for approval. they are not
>"approved". true.
>
>are they from subscribed members? some. most are not.
>
>but the setting says members_postings_only = 'yes' (ONLY!)
>  
>
That is the setting for the *automatic* process.  Mailman will 
*automatically* send member posts to the list, and it will do something 
else with the non-member posts per your specification.

>ok.
>
>but there are about 60-70% messages that come from non members. they are
>held too. held for approval. or to be discarded. why?
>  
>
Why not?  For many lists this is the desired behavior.

>i don't know. they are not members. they should not be held. at all
>
That is up for the list owner to configure.

>in short the logic says: "no, they should not even considered to be held
>for approval. they are sent to the list by non members (spammers). the
>list is restricted so that ONLY members can post. that means any post from
>anybody not on the list doesn't matter - it's not important. shouldn't be
>held for approval."
>  
>
That is but one possible configuration.  See your list admin page at:

     $domain/mailman/admin/$listname/privacy/sender

"When a message is posted to the list, a series of moderation steps are 
take to decide whether the a moderator must first approve the message or 
not. This section contains the controls for moderation of both member 
and non-member postings."

Note that there are a *series* of steps. 

For some lists, even *members* are not allowed to post to the list 
(one-way or announcement lists).  Those lists are configured at the 
settings for:

By default, should new list member postings be moderated?  (set to "yes" 
for one-way lists)
Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list.  (default is 
to "hold", you can also select "reject" or "discard")

For a discussion list where members are allowed to post, you then decide 
if you want mailman to *automatically* post posts from anyone, or only 
from members.  You set this at:

Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit 
action is defined. (default is "hold")

Then you decide what you want done with the other posts.  You set this at

Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit 
action is defined.  The default is to "hold" but you can also select 
"accept", or "reject", or discard" as appropriate for YOUR list.  The 
default is "hold" because you may wish to allow on-topic posts by 
non-members.  This very list (mailman-users) allows posts of that nature 
- I'm one of the list admins who reviews the non-member posts and 
approves the on-topic ones to be sent on to the list.  For other lists 
with other policies, you can elect to have non-member posts bounced or 
discarded if you prefer.  That way each list owner can configure their 
list to meet their needs.

>what is not clear in the statement members_postings_only='yes'?
>'yes' or 'only'? i guess i'm hanging on "only". wouldn't you?
>  
>
I think you are missing the big picture.  There are many different ways 
that lists can be configured.  The "only" term applies to the 
*automatic* handling by mailman, not to the choices made by the list 
owners and admins.  Mailman automatically posts messages from "members 
only", and then the *default* option lets the list owner/admin decide 
what to do with the rest but this is something you can easily change as 
shown above.

jc