Who can send messages to the mailing list?

To decide who can send e-mails to the list, what should be moderated, etc. one has to choose a suitable predefined scenario for this.

Change who can email the list

  1. Log in to https://sympa.uio.no, og velg den aktuelle listen.
  2. Click on Admin in the left menu and select Sending/reception under Edit List Config.
  3. Who can send messages contains a drop-down menu where you can select who can send emails to the list.

How to stop spam

The list administrators must strive to configure the lists so that as little spam as possible gets through to the list members. The more strictly moderated a list is, the less spam. This must be weighed against how acceptable it is for e-mail to be delayed. Administrator must moderate messages often enough, and there should be several administrators on the list - then more often an administrator has time to moderate the list.

To prevent spam to the lists, postmaster has defined an additional anti-spam setting. This consists of two rules:

  1. If the list name is not listed in the to field or the cc field, the message will be held for moderation.
  2. If the message has received 5 or more spam points, the message will be held back for moderation.

Since messages affected by these two rules are very likely to be spam, no return message is sent to the sender stating that the message must be approved by a moderator.

Let through all email, even spam

Then you can choose the following scenario:

  • Public list. (public_spam)

Note that then all e-mail to the list will be distributed to the members, which will most likely result in a lot of spam. This is usually only desirable for a small number of lists, where delays in messages are excluded, such as abuse lists and some lists for use in crisis situations.

Do not auto-notify that messages have been moderated or rejected

Then you can choose between the following scenarios, all marked with Quiet:

  • Public list. Anti-spam enabled. Quiet. (public)
  • Private, moderated for non subscribers. Anti-spam enabled. Quiet. (privateoreditorkeyquiet)

All other scenarios will in some cases send a return message that the message must be moderated, that the message has been rejected or that the sender must confirm the message before it is accepted.

Description of all options

We also have a description of all the scenarios (in Norwegian), including an indication of when it should be selected. For those extra interested, the technical definition of the scenario is also included, but it is perfectly fine to skip this part.

Published Aug. 2, 2024 10:25 AM - Last modified Aug. 2, 2024 10:42 AM