Overview

These are my notes on using Mailman to manage email newsletters and emailing lists.

Organizations need ways to get news out to large groups of people, and to help communication between group members. In a typical example, a group might want three mailing lists:

news -- Announcements, open enrollment, large list, weekly or monthly

volunteers -- Discussion, open enrollment, medium list, may have many messages per day

management -- Discussion, managed enrollment, small list, may have many messages per day. On a management list, since enrollment is closed, it'd be helpful if the members could get a list of members at any time.

Here are some lists I've created so far:

The general flow is this:

1. User requests subscription
2. System sends 'confirmation message', simply making sure they want to subscribe.
   
3. User replies to confirmation
4. System sends 'welcome message', with instructions on managing their subscription to digest form, unsubscribing, etc.

Managing the list

The management tasks can be broken out, perhaps by the skills you'd expect.

Author -- In Announce-only lists, this is the person who's allowed to send messages. If readers reply on announce-only lists, this is who the reply will go to. In Discuss lists, anyone can post.

Moderator -- On all lists, this person is fall-back for subscription changes. They have access to the user list and can make changes.

Admin -- On all lists, this person changes the various configuration parameters.

These are some of the email addresses used by the list: foo-request@, foo-subscribe@ & foo-join@, foo-unsubscribe@ & foo-leave@, foo-owner@, foo-confirm@. If the newsletter is pcf-news, then you might user pcf-news-request@preserveChelmsfordsFuture.com. Yeah, it's long.

You can access the lists, as a subscriber, moderator, or admin, at: http://mailman-mail1.webfaction.com/listinfo

Confirmation Message

Subject: confirm c17cd4bc2322a3333592933c7d9f417cb70208f6

Mailing list subscription confirmation notice for mailing list
PCF-news

We have received a request from virtual_alfred@yahoo.com for
subscription of your email address, "virtual_alfred@yahoo.com", to the
pcf-news@preservechelmsfordsfuture.com mailing list.  To confirm that
you want to be added to this mailing list, simply reply to this
message, keeping the Subject: header intact.  Or visit this web page:

    http://mailman-mail1.webfaction.com/confirm/pcf-news/c17cd4bc2322a3333592933c7d9f417cb70208f6


Or include the following line -- and only the following line -- in a
message to pcf-news-request@preservechelmsfordsfuture.com:

    confirm c17cd4bc2322a3333592933c7d9f417cb70208f6

Note that simply sending a `reply' to this message should work from
most mail readers, since that usually leaves the Subject: line in the
right form (additional "Re:" text in the Subject: is okay).

If you do not wish to be subscribed to this list, please simply
disregard this message.  If you think you are being maliciously
subscribed to the list, or have any other questions, send them to
pcf-news-owner@preservechelmsfordsfuture.com.

Welcome Message

Welcome to the PCF-news@preservechelmsfordsfuture.com mailing list!
Welcome to the announcements list for Preserve Chelmsford's Future.
Our goal is to help people stay informed on the issues that affect the
character of Chelmsford, and to provide the tools to help shape it.

Expect an email roughly every month to keep you up-to-date.

To post to this list, send your email to:

  pcf-news@preservechelmsfordsfuture.com

General information about the mailing list is at:

  http://mailman-mail1.webfaction.com/listinfo/pcf-news

If you ever want to unsubscribe or change your options (eg, switch to
or from digest mode, change your password, etc.), visit your
subscription page at:

  http://mailman-mail1.webfaction.com/options/pcf-news/virtual_alfred%40yahoo.com


You can also make such adjustments via email by sending a message to:

  PCF-news-request@preservechelmsfordsfuture.com

with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the
quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions.

You must know your password to change your options (including changing
the password, itself) or to unsubscribe.  It is:

  azkiuf

Normally, Mailman will remind you of your
preservechelmsfordsfuture.com mailing list passwords once every month,
although you can disable this if you prefer.  This reminder will also
include instructions on how to unsubscribe or change your account
options.  There is also a button on your options page that will email
your current password to you.

Welcome to the %(real_name)s@%(host_name)s mailing list!

%(welcome)s

If you ever want to unsubscribe or change your options (eg, switch to
or from digest mode, change your password, etc.), visit your
subscription page at:

%(optionsurl)s