[Mailman-Users] 2nd Question: Bypassing Confirmation/Approval for New Subscribers

[Mike Ewall]

Mark and Dan, thanks for the advice so far.

I just checked with my webhost and confirmed that they don't allow us 
access to mailman configuration files, since the files are server-wide and 
would affect other clients they host.

I therefore can't modify the mm_cfg.py file or use any command-line options.

I tried out the wget method mentioned below, but it doesn't seem to work 
for me either.  Trying them through a browser gives me a "CGI script error" 
stating "Error: No such list [listname]."  Trying the commands while SSH'd 
into the server gives errors as well.

Any idea why the wget methods described in the thread earlier this month 
(http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2004-December/041209.html) 
wouldn't work?

Any other suggestions or am I out of luck until I switch my web hosting to 
a host that allows access to the mailman config files?

Mike


At 09:36 PM 12/18/2004, Mark Sapiro wrote:
>Mike Ewall wrote:
> >
> >Perhaps someone can answer another point of frustration I have with Mailman.
> >
> >The software doesn't seem to allow people to subscribe without being
> >subject to confirmation or approval.
> >
> >Is there any way to circumvent the need to require confirmation or approval?
>
>
>If you set ALLOW_OPEN_SUBSCRIBE = Yes in mm_cfg.py, you will be given
>the option to allow unconfirmed subscribes on a list on Privacy
>options...->Subscription rules->subscribe_policy. Alternatively, you
>can set subscribe_policy = 0 for a list with bin/withlist.
>
>This is not really recommended. See
>http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users@python.org/msg27706.html for
>a few of the reasons why.
>
>
> >
> >Since the confirmation process isn't very user-friendly, many people fail
> >to complete the process to subscribe or unsubscribe.  After analyzing one
> >of the lists I run, I found that 18% of those who try to subscribe and 38%
> >of those who try to unsubscribe fail to complete the process (some of the
> >38% manage to unsubscribe after multiple attempts or by bugging me to
> >remove them).
> >
> >I used to run many Listproc lists where I was able to create
> >(user-friendly) web forms to allow people to automatically un/subscribe
> >themselves -- no confirmation required.
> >
> >If there were a command-line way for a mailman listowner to add someone
> >without requiring confirmation (this feature is already available through
> >the web interface), I could program my forms to re-enable this.
> >
> >Do command-line options for this exist?
>
>
>See
>
>  bin/add_members --help
>
>This requires the subscribee's address be written to a file to be read
>by the command.
>
>
>See the thread with subject "[Mailman-Users] Admin (un)subscribe via
>wget or email w/out confirms" beginning at
>http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2004-December/041209.html
>for a way to use wget.
>
>You could set up your web forms to post to the admin mass subscribe
>URI, but you may not be able to do this without revealing the list
>admin password to anyone who looks at the HTML source of your form.
>Again, see the above thread.
>
> >Mike
> >
> >P.S. Please don't write back with replies about how users who can't
> >complete a confirmation process are stupid, lazy or incompetent or why you
> >feel that list managers shouldn't have certain features due to security
> >concerns.
>
>OK, I won't say that list managers "shouldn't have" the ability to
>allow unconfirmed subscribes. I've told you a few ways you can do it,
>But if one list manager's ill considered subscription policy has the
>potential to get your entire domain blacklisted by AOL and other large
>ISP's, you might want to let other list managers in the domain weigh
>in on the decision.
>
>--
>Mark Sapiro <msapiro at value.net>       The highway is for gamblers,
>San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan