Moderated
Mailing List Template ReadMe
October 5, 1996
Copyright 1996, StarNine Technologies, Inc. All
rights reserved.
What is a moderated mailing list?
A moderated mailing list is a mailing list which many people
subscribe to but where posts must be approved by a moderator before
being distributed to the list. This would typically be used for large
mailing lists where the content must be limited, mailing lists for
minors or covering sensitive topics, and lists where a minority of
subscribers are allowed to post.
How do I use it?
Commands and posts are sent to the public address. This is
also the address which appears in the From: field of messages
sent out by the list. Commands accepted are
subscribe,
unsubscribe,
subscribe
digest, and help. Once a
month, subscribers will automatically receive the help message via
e-mail. Mail sent to the public address by the moderators is ignored.
Each announcement list has it's own secret address. No one
should ever see this address except for those authorized to post, it
acts like a password. When posts are received by the public address,
they are forwarded to the moderator for approval. To approve a
message, the moderator should redirect or forward the
message to the list, putting the publicly known address (the address
people send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to) in the To
field andthe secret address in the Bcc field. An example
outgoing message might look like:
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 96 10:23:05 -0400
Subject: Message to post
From: subscriber-name@somehost.com
To: your-list@yourhost.com
Bcc: list-secret-address@yourhost.com
The secret address scans the RFC822 header and body of the message
for the secret address, to insure that it is not posted by accident.
Installation...
To make a new announcement list, take the following steps:
- If you haven't already, read about
importing
templates
- Launch the ListSTAR Server
- Choose "New Moderated Mailing List..." from the "Scripts" menu
- At the prompt for the address and display name of "Moderated
Mailing List", enter information for the public address mentioned
above, which all subscribers will see and use.
- At the prompt for the address and display name of "Moderated
Secret Address", enter information for the secret address
mentioned above, which only the moderators will see and use.
- At the prompt for the moderator's email address, enter the
address which should be authorized to post. This address is
automatically entered into the "Moderated Moderator Address"
address list if it doesn't already exist there.
- At the prompt for the listmaster's email address, enter the
address where mailer-daemon mail and error messages should be
sent. This address is automatically entered into the "Listmaster
Address" address list if it doesn't already exist there.
- At this point ListSTAR will be busy for a few moments as it
duplicates files and imports them into ListSTAR. If your Services
window is open, you will see "Moderated Mailing List", "Moderated
Secret Address", and "Moderated Timer" appear in alphabetical
order. When this is finished, a dialog will appear reporting
exactly how many services, address lists, and AppleScripts were
created.
- The new template is now created. You should rename the new
services and address lists. In most cases, you can just replace
"Moderated Mailing List" with "Your List Name" as appropriate. The
names are not themselves important; it is just important that the
names are unique and easily identifiable.
Requirements...
- AppleScript, as well as the scriptable Finder. (An install of
System 7.5 or later guarantees compatibility, although System 7
Pro may work as well.)
- Version 1.1 of ListSTAR or later.
Support Issues...
Questions or problem reports for these services should be reported
to
liststar-talk@starnine.com