Frequently Asked Questions About Mailing Lists

Tips for Mailing List Owners:

• IMPORTANT: Every time the word "listname" appears below, substitute the actual name of the list for this word (do not use quotes).
  
  
• The URL for the public information page about each list hosted by EnviroLink is in this format: http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/listinfo/listname
  
  
• The URL for the administrative/management page for each list is in this format: http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/admin/listname
  
  
• List owners can be contacted at this email address: listname-owner@envirolink.org
  
  
• All email-based commands can be sent to listname-request@envirolink.org
  
  
• For a list of email-based commands, send a messages to listname-request@envirolink.org with the word "help" (no quotes) in the body of the message.
  
  
• To set up a list as an announcement-only list:
  1. Log in to the list admin page at http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/admin/listname
  2. Click on Privacy Options
  3. Click on Sender Filters (in the list of links under Privacy Options)
  4. Scroll down to the question "By default, should new list member postings be moderated?" and click "Yes"
  5. Choose Hold, Reject or Discard for "Action to take when a moderated member posts to the list." (read a description of these choices by clicking on "Details for member_moderation_action")
  6. Set any other desired preferences on this page and submit the changes
  7. Click on Membership Management (at the top of the page)
  8. Under "Additional Member Tasks" set everyone's moderation bit to "On" and click Set
  9. Make sure the address which is authorized to post to the list is a subscriber (if the address is an owner, but not a subscriber, it won't work)
  10. Search for this authorized address in the list of subscribers and set the moderation bit to "Off" for this subscriber
  11. Now the only address which is allowed to post to the list without moderation is the one you designated in the steps above.
  
  
  
• The public information page about a list can be customized by the list owner, IF the list owner is familiar with html. To do this, click on "Edit the public HTML pages" at the top of the list admin page. TIP: Save a copy of the current html in a separate file before editing it. There is no way to revert to the original html once it has been edited.
  
  
• Mailman provides many customizable features. All list owners should look at every page of the list admin interface to see what is available before contacting EnviroLink support for help. If you can't find the answer you need, write to mailman@envirolink.org.