Adrian Pepper's Quick-Start Guide to Mailman List Moderation

• (rendered for 'sample' list)

Preface

I was actually hoping to find a link to someone else's description to put here. But, in fact, it looks like nearly all tutorials gloss over this job. I thought perhaps I should develop this section by first grabbing some screenshots. However, it would not be possible to parameterize screenshots based on the list name (list-name-parameter). So, instead, I grabbed some HTML and attempted to represent it inside this page and the pages it links to.

Moderation shouldn't really be all that complicated, and, indeed, perhaps it is just more difficult to describe than it is to actually do. I am sure the mailman software authors intended the moderation pages to be self-explanatory.

However, especially if the pages contain a lot of moderator requests, they can be overwhelming in size and apparent complexity of option choices. And there are a few non-obvious caveats, too. And their content is empty (even the detailed instructions cannot be obtained) unless there are some real requests to attend to. So these pages attempt to mimic hypothetical content for the mailman sample list, so that potential moderators can be warned ahead of time about what they might encounter.

Instructions

The Sample Page following represents the web page you may sometimes see at

• https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/admindb/list-name-parameter

It contains some sample moderation requests which should be attended to. (The posts and requests are not real, however, so will not actually exist if you queried the real moderation page).

Each administrative request has "radio buttons" which look somewhat like the following:

Defer (MailManManagementGuideModerationDefer)

Besides the default Defer (above), you have three other main options you can choose to handle each request. We present them in the order, roughly speaking, of most likely appropriate to least likely appropriate, not the order they appear across the menu. Beside each Option heading below is a link to a CF Twiki page of more detailed discussion for that particular option.

Discard (MailManManagementGuideModerationDiscard)

Reject (MailManManagementGuideModerationReject)

and...

Accept (MailManManagementGuideModerationAccept)

Note, for some adminstrative requests, there is an option Approve rather than Accept . However, the two are largely analogous.

Sample Page

HERE FOLLOWS a table, rendered to represent a semi-fictional webpage 'https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/admindb/list-name-parameter' as might theoretically be seen for the 'sample' list)

Administrative requests for mailing list: list-name-parameter This page contains a summary of the current set of administrative requests requiring your approval for the list-name-parameter mailing list. First, you will find the list of pending subscription and unsubscription requests, if any, followed by any postings being held for your approval. For each administrative request, please select the action to take, clicking on the Submit All Data button when finished. More detailed instructions are also available. You can also view the details of all held postings.  Discard all messages marked Defer Subscription Requests Address/name Your decision Reason for refusal wgates@microsoft.com Defer Approve Reject Discard  Permanently ban from this list stanley@stanley.net Defer Approve Reject Discard  Permanently ban from this list Unsubscription Requests User address/name Your decision Reason for refusal smharper@uwaterloo.ca Harper, Steven Defer Approve Reject Discard Held Messages From:stanley@gmail.com Action to take on all these held messages:    Defer       Accept       Reject       Discard     Preserve messages for the site administrator  Forward messages (individually) to:  Add stanley@gmail.com to one of these sender filters:    Accepts       Holds       Rejects       Discards     Ban stanley@gmail.com from ever subscribing to this mailing list Click on the message number to view the individual message, or you can view all messages from stanley@gmail.com     [1] Subject: Re: Agenda of the December 9 School Council Meeting   Size: 6864 bytes   Reason: Post by non-member to a members-only list   Received: Thu Dec 10 14:38:31 2015 From:oosti623@tele2.nl Action to take on all these held messages:    Defer       Accept       Reject       Discard     Preserve messages for the site administrator  Forward messages (individually) to:  Add oosti623@tele2.nl to one of these sender filters:    Accepts       Holds       Rejects       Discards     Ban oosti623@tele2.nl from ever subscribing to this mailing list Click on the message number to view the individual message, or you can view all messages from oosti623@tele2.nl     [1] Subject: Best watches in the world.   Size: 165754 bytes   Reason: Post by non-member to a members-only list   Received: Tue Dec 1 06:56:25 2015 From:roger.harrison@redoqsqlserver2.info Action to take on all these held messages:    Defer       Accept       Reject       Discard     Preserve messages for the site administrator  Forward messages (individually) to:  Add roger.harrison@redoqsqlserver2.info to one of these sender filters:    Accepts       Holds       Rejects       Discards     Ban roger.harrison@redoqsqlserver2.info from ever subscribing to this mailing list Click on the message number to view the individual message, or you can view all messages from roger.harrison@redoqsqlserver2.info     [1] Subject: Indebted for driving on toll road #0000476860   Size: 6012 bytes   Reason: Post by non-member to a members-only list   Received: Tue Dec 1 05:24:24 2015  Discard all messages marked Defer list-name-parameter list run by list-name-parameter-owner at lists.uwaterloo.ca list-name-parameter administrative interface (requires authorization) Overview of all lists.uwaterloo.ca mailing lists version 2.1.12

Handy Mailman Pages in This CF Twiki

• MailManManagementGuide
• MailManManagementGuideModeration
• MailManManagementGuideModerationDefer
• MailManManagementGuideModerationDiscard
• MailManManagementGuideModerationDone
• MailManManagementGuideModerationInstructions
• MailManManagementLinks

-- AdrianPepper - 2015-12-01