MIT Mailman User Guide:
Subscriber Options / Membership Management

MIT Mailman

DRAFT, May 5, 2003.

Mailman subscribers (list members) have a number of options they may set themselves once they are subscribed to a list. To get to the options, go to the list's general web page, available from http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/<insert-listname-here>. Note that some of the options will have a Set globally checkbox. Checking this field will cause the changes to be made to every mailing list that you are a member of on mailman.mit.edu. This may be especially useful for options such as Mail delivery for when you are out of the office. [add info on Mass Subscription / Mass Removal]

Mailman does have an email interface for subscribers to subscribe, unsubscribe, change password, set options, etc. Users can send email to INSERT-LISTNAME-HERE-request@mit.edu with the command 'help' in the body to get the complete list description and available commands.

Note on LISTSERV migration: When LISTSERV lists are transitioned to Mailman lists, certain LISTSERV subscriber options will be migrated to Mailman. These include digest, nomail, mime, conceal, repro, and ack. We are looking at including migration of topics.

Subscriber Option in Mailman Available settings Comparable
LISTSERV Keyword

Mail delivery
Set this option to Enabled to receive messages posted to this mailing list. Set it to Disabled if you want to stay subscribed, but don't want mail delivered to you for a while (e.g. you're going on vacation). If you disable mail delivery, don't forget to re-enable it when you come back; it will not be automatically re-enabled.

Enabled
Disabled
Set globally
Mail / NOMail
Setting this option to Mail indicates that the subscriber will receive mail from the list.
 
Set Digest Mode
If you turn digest mode on, you'll get posts bundled together (usually one per day but possibly more on busy lists), instead of singly when they're sent. If digest mode is changed from on to off, you may receive one last digest.
Off
On
DIGest / NODIGest
Causes the subscriber to receive one posting per digest cycle (typically daily) rather than individual messages as they are processed by LISTSERV.
Get MIME or Plain Text Digests?
Your mail reader may or may not support MIME digests. In general MIME digests are preferred, but if you have a problem reading them, select plain text digests.
MIME
Plain Text
Set globally
MIME / NOMIME
Toggles MIME functions on and off. Currently this is only useful if the user has a mail client that supports MIME digests.
Receive your own posts to the list?
Ordinarily, you will get a copy of every message you post to the list. If you don't want to receive this copy, set this option to No.
No
Yes
REPro / NOREPro
Controls whether or not the subscriber will get a copy of his or her own posts back from the list after they are processed.
Receive acknowledgement mail when you send mail to the list? No
Yes
ACK / NOACK
ACK causes LISTSERV to send a short confirmation message to the subscriber when the post has been received and distributed. NOACK disables the confirmation feature for the subscriber.
Get password reminder email for this list?
Once a month, you will get an email containing a password reminder for every list at this host to which you are subscribed. You can turn this off on a per-list basis by selecting No for this option. If you turn off password reminders for all the lists you are subscribed to, no reminder email will be sent to you.
No
Yes
Set globally
Not applicable.
Conceal yourself from subscriber list?
When someone views the list membership, your email address is normally shown (in an obscured fashion to thwart spam harvesters). If you do not want your email address to show up on this membership roster at all, select Yes for this option.
No
Yes
CONCEAL / NOCONCEAL
Subscribers may choose to "hide" their subscription from the REView command by using the CONCEAL command.
What language do you prefer?
Languages other than English may be set up by the List Owner for the web interface.
Not applicable since language options for list administration were not needed.
Which topic categories would you like to subscribe to?
By selecting one or more topics, you can filter the traffic on the mailing list, so as to receive only a subset of the messages. If a message matches one of your selected topics, then you will get the message, otherwise you will not. If a message does not match any topic, the delivery rule depends on the setting of the option below. If you do not select any topics of interest, you will get all the messages sent to the mailing list.
Option will be available if Topics are set up by the List Owner.

Similar to TOPICS
List of topics to receive mail based on match in subject line. (Mailman has more options use of topics at the list level; specifically not restricted to topic in subject.)

Do you want to receive message that do not match any topic filter?
This option only takes effect if you've subscribed to at least one topic above. It describes what the default delivery rule is for messages that don't match any topic filter. Selecting No says that if the message does not match any topic filters, then you won't get the message, while selecting Yes says to delivery such non-matching messages to you. If no topics of interest are selected above, then you will receive every message sent to the mailing list.
No
Yes
Specified w/ the topic category "other".
Avoid duplicate copies of messages?
When you are listed explicitly in the To: or Cc: headers of a list message, you can opt to not receive another copy from the mailing list. Select Yes to avoid receiving copies from the mailing list; select No to receive copies. If the list has member personalized messages enabled, and you elect to receive copies, every copy will have a X-Mailman-Copy: yes header added to it.
No
Yes
Set globally
Not available.
Listowner Options for Subscribers in Mailman on Membership Management Page > Membership List Available settings Comparable
LISTSERV Keyword
mod
List owners may set a user's personal moderation flag. If this is set, postings from them will be moderated, otherwise they will be approved.
mod

EDITOR / NOEDITOR
A subscriber set to EDITOR on an edited/moderated list may post directly to the list without a moderator's intervention.
REVIEW/NOREVIEW
When a subscriber is set to REVIEW, all postings from that subscriber are forwarded to the list editor or list owner for approval.
post/nopost is also relevant; send keyword at list level also relevant

hide
List owners and list members may conceal a specific member on the list of subscribers.
hide
CONCEAL / NOCONCEAL
Subscribers may choose to "hide" their subscription from the REView command by using the CONCEAL command.
nomail
List owners and list members may disable delivery of mail to the member; this screen will show if it was done by the user, the list admins, or the system due to excessive bounces.
nomail
Mail / NOMail
Setting this option to Mail indicates that the subscriber will receive mail from the list.
 
ack
Should the member receive acknowledgement mail when s/he sends mail to the list?
ack
ACK / NOACK
ACK causes LISTSERV to send a short confirmation message to the subscriber when the post has been received and distributed. NOACK disables the confirmation feature for the subscriber.
not metoo
Does the member want to avoid copies of their own postings?
not metoo
REPro / NOREPro
Controls whether or not the subscriber will get a copy of his or her own posts back from the list after they are processed.
nodupes
Does the member want to avoid duplicates of the same message?
nodupes
Not available.
digest
Does the member get messages in digests? (otherwise, individual messages)
digest
DIGest / NODIGest
Causes the subscriber to receive one posting per digest cycle (typically daily) rather than individual messages as they are processed by LISTSERV.
plain
If getting digests, does the member get plain text digests? (otherwise, MIME)
plain
MIME / NOMIME
Toggles MIME functions on and off. Currently this is only useful if the user has a mail client that supports MIME digests.
language
Language preferred by the user
language Not applicable since language options for list administration were not needed.

The Mailman Delivery Team recognizes that not all LISTSERV functionality will be available in Mailman. Certain options have been identified as not comparable available in Mailman. The option listed below will not be carried forward during LISTSERV migration and owners/subscribers will have to decide on a case by case basis how to proceed.

LISTSERV subscriber options settable by the subscriber that are not comparably available in Mailman include:

In LISTSERV, owners could also set certain subscriber options that are not comparably available in Mailman include:


MIT Updated May 5, 2003. Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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