Understanding Mailing Lists

Mailing lists act similar to forwards with the only difference that they offer wider possibilites such as independent end user subscribtion, message and subscription moderation, archivation and much more.

The mailing list solution available in the control panel is the popular EZMLM/IDX MAILING LIST MANAGER. For comprehensive information on EZMLM, see EZMLM FAQ.

Creating Mailing Lists

To create a mailing list:

1. On your control panel home page, click E-Mail.
2. On the mail domain controls page click New Mailing List
3. Create the mailing list using the form that appears:
   • E-mail address: the name of the mailing list from which mail will be forwarded to subscribers.
        * Note: you can enter only a new e-mail address. If you need to use an existing address, first delete the resource that uses it.
   • Comment: a comment that will help you identify this address among other mail resources, if needed.
4. Agree to additional charges if any.

See below how to configure the mailing list according to your needs.

Configuring a Mailing List

To configure a mailing list:

1. Click the mailing list e-mail address in the E-mail list on the maildomain Controls page.
On the page that appears, configure mailing list preferred settings:

Enter the e-mail address that enables mail list subscribers to report their problems or error messages sending requests to your_mailinglist-owner@domain.com. Since EZMLM can take care of virtually all requests without human intervention, the list owner may read mail only infrequently.

By default, all messages sent to a list are kept archived. This way, subscribers can later retrieve messages from the archive. For instance, subscribers haven't been following the list for a while, or they just want to see the discussion of a specific question.

E.g.: retrieve one message at a time with the -get command: your_mailinglist-get.123@domain.com (get message 123)
Read more on commands to access the ezmlm message archive.

* The archive is also used to create digests.

Check Not Archived to disable archiving the messages sent to the list.

You can prohibit the overall access to the archive and authorize only moderators to get at it.

Here you can restrict the access to the mailing list archive by allowing only subscribers retrieve the archive. Non-subscribers' requests will be rejected.

Check the Digest box to set up the mailing list with a digest function. The digest is a special kind of mailing list extension. Instead of sending separate messages, it sends out a collection of messages ordered by digest subscribers collections of messages. Digest is sent out when a predetermined time or traffic limit has been reached. Receiving digest is very convenient for users who want to follow a list, but not to participate in the discussion. Digests contain each message as it was sent out by the list. No editorials, no missing messages. If the list owner has chosen to restrict posts and archive access to subscribers, digest subscribers are automatically given the same privilege.

From the subscriber point of view, the digest list for the mailing list your_mailinglist@domain.com is called your_mailinglist-digest@domain.com. You use the same commands to work with digest as you do when you work with the main list. The only difference is that you use your commands with 'digest' indication.

Check "No prefix" to prohibit adding prefix to the subject line of each message that does not already contain it. If you want the subject line of each message that does not contain it, to include the prefix, place the text in the file DIR/prefix

Usually an applicant for subscription (your_mailinglist-subscribe@domain.com) is sent a confirmation request. To confirm it, one should just reply to the message. When it is done, recipient's address is added to the database and he becomes a subscriber.
This verification mechanism tests if the person at the subscription address really wants to be a subscriber. You can always include or exclude confirmation from the subscription procedure.

Mailing lists may use subscription moderation. Subscription to these lists is identical to the process described above, except that after confirmation the request is passed on to the list moderator(s). One becomes a subscriber only after his request has been approved by a moderator, i.e. he replies to the ``Reply-To:'' address.

In special cases, the list owner may set up the list to be message moderated. On a message moderated list, messages, instead of going directly to the list (to send messages to the list, one must know its name. If the list is called mailinglist@domain.com, just send a message to mailinglist@domain.com), are sent to one or more moderators. They can accept or reject, but not modify the message. If the message is accepted, it is sent to the list unmodified. If it is rejected, it is e-mailed back to the sender, optionally with an explanation from the moderator. On moderated lists it may take a little longer for the message to reach all the subscribers, since it has to be read and approved by at least one moderator before being sent out to the subscribers.

Here, you can allow remote administrators to edit the text files that make up most of the ezmlm responses. Replies are sent only if the target address is a remote administrator. With this switch, ezmlm replies to the -edit command with a list of the files in dir/text/. Only files where editing seems reasonable are included in the list. The remote administrator can edit any file in dir/text/ by sending e-mail containing the new text to -edit.file where ``file'' is the name of the file replaced (edited). In reply to this command, ezmlm sends a message with the file and editing instructions. A ``cookie'' based on the date, file name, and contents of the file is added to the ``Reply-To:'' address. The cookie becomes invalid as soon as the file has been changed, or after 27 hours, whichever is shorter. Also, the cookie cannot be used to edit any other file, even if the other file has exactly the same content.

Here you can disable posting by subscribers to the mailing list, so they will only receive messages posted by moderators. This is usually chosen to send announcement or notifications where the interaction between recipients is not intended.

A remote administrator is an address with the rights to do certain administrative tasks remotely by E-mail. Depending on how the list is configured, remote administrators may have the right/ability to list subscribers, search for subscriber addresses by name, add and remove subscriber addresses and/or edit the texts that are sent in reply to list commands.

Mailing list users are not allowed to list the addresses of all subscribers. Still, you can allow remote administrator to get it. The subscription log stores entries for each modification made to the subscriber database. Remote administrators can list this log or search it for specific entries. For example, listing this file allows the remote administrator to see recent additions and removals.

You can set up your mailing list to allow posts from subscribers only. In this case posts received from non-subscribers will be rejected and sent back.

If you enable this function, users will be required to request to the remote administrator in order to retrieve mail list archives. Otherwise, archive will be accessible only to the remote administrator.

With this option enabled, it will process commands sent in the subject to list-request@host.

Normally, confirmation is not required to unsubscribe from a mailing list. However, this option gives added security in that one can't remove another without permission.

For details on how to configure your mail list please read documentation at www.ezmlm.org)

2. Click the Submit button to save changes.

Managing Your Mail List Subscribers

The number of subscribers shows in brackets in the mailing list Properties column.

To add subscribers to a mailing list:

1. Click the Subscribers icon in the mailing list Properties column on the mail domain controls page.
2. Enter subscriber's email address in the Add subscriber field. To add several subscribers at once, enter their e-mail addresses separated with line break in the Batch subscribers creation field:

3. Click Submit.

To remove subscribers from a mailing list:

1. Click the Subscribers icon in the mailing list Properties column on the mail domain controls page.
2. Click the Delete icon next to the subscriber to delete subscribers one by one or the Delete icon in Remove all subscribers.

Sending Messages to Mailing List Subscribers

To send a message to a mailing list, send the newsletter to the mailing list e-mail address using WebMail or any mail client such as Outlook Express.

Managing Your Mailing List Moderators

Moderators approve of message posts and requests for subscription. Individual moderator's addresses are kept secret, even from other moderators. The total number of moderators is displayed in brackets in the mailing list Properties column.

To add a moderator to your mailing list:

1. Click the Moderators icon in the mailing list Properties column on the mail domain controls page.
2. Enter moderator's email in the Add moderator field:

3. Click Submit.

To remove a moderator from your mailing list:

1. Click the Moderators icon in the mailing list Properties column on the mail domain controls page.
2. Click the Delete icon next to the moderator

There can be several moderators, both for messages and subscription:

• Message moderators allow messages to be sent to the mail list. The message will be passed on to the mailing list subscribers only if a moderator approves it.
• Subscription moderators allow people to join the list. If at least one subscription moderator approves the request, the user address becomes a subscriber.

As a rule of thumb, most lists use the same addresses for both functions.

Adding Mailing List Trailer

Message trailer is a uniform text added to each message. Typically, it contains instructions on how to unsubscribe from the list and similar information for subscribers. There can be only one trailer for all messages within one mailing list.

To add a message trailer:

1. Click the Trailer icon in the mailing list Properties column on the mail domain controls page.
2. Enter the text that will be added to each of your subscribe messages:

3. Click Submit.

To edit a message trailer:

1. Click the Trailer icon in the mailing list Properties column on the mail domain controls page.
2. Edit the text and click Submit.

To remove a message trailer:

1. Click the Trailer icon in the mailing list Properties column on the mail domain controls page.
2. Remove the text from the text field and click Submit.

Removing Mailing Lists

To remove a mailing list click the Trash icon in the mailing lists Properties column on the Mail Controls page.


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