Apology/Retry Re: [Mailman-Users] passwords, confirmation emails, clunky web interfaces, and my grandmother

[David Hunt]

Aw, geez, Richard, you're right.  I'm sorry for acting like a jerk with my
first post; I was just really frustrated because I've been working on this
for a month with very little success.  Please accept my apology and let me
try again.

The company that hosts my website is running Mailman 2.1.2 (recently
upgraded), and although they do fine for normal questions, I don't really
think they're Mailman "experts".  As for myself, I already know the options
available in Mailman's web interface and understand most of them (I think).
I have read what documentation I could find - which only amounted to the
expanded explanations of those options.  My questions boil down to:

1. Can you run a list without having passwords assigned to the subscribers
at all?  From the responses I've received, I'm guessing that it really can't
be done (there's a feature suggestion), but I think I can come up with some
workarounds, like the one suggested by Howard in
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2003-July/030023.html.

2. How can I change the confirmation and welcome emails?  I still want them,
but I want them to be completely different, not just with text added using
that option.  I've found this post from Todd
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2003-June/029473.html - which
may help, except I can't find these folders in Mailman's web interface, and
I'm not sure how to access them otherwise.

The company that hosts my website said that these two things are impossible
of accomplishment, but as I said, I don't think they are really experts with
Mailman, and I'm hoping that someone here will have a better answer.

Sincerely,
David


----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Barrett" <R.Barrett at ftel.co.uk>
To: "David Hunt" <tnuhdivad at hotmail.com>
Cc: <mailman-users at python.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 10:28 AM
Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] passwords, confirmation emails, clunky web
interfaces, and my grandmother


You do not say what version of Mailman you are running.

Were you to be running MM 2.1.2 you would find the following list
configuration options, which if set as indicated would lead to a user
being subscribed without having to respond to or indeed receive any
emails except the subsequent normal list traffic. The list admin would
have to OK the subscription; being a responsible list admin,  you would
not want no constraints or checks on who is being subscribed to your
list would you?

If I recollect, similar options are available on the MM 2.0.13
interface.

If you take a look at the mailman-users list archives you may find
recipes for password-less unsubscription. I will leave that for you to
research.

The web hosting admin person you refer to might like to spend some time
checking the web admin GUI of Mailman for the options it offers.

On General Options page under Notifications:

   set 'Send monthly password reminder' to No

   set 'Send welcome message to newly subscribed...' to No

On Privacy Options page:

   set 'What steps are require for subscription' to 'Require approval'

As regards the rude tone of your post, you would do well to remember
that Mailman is Open Software, you are paying no charge for either the
software license or support and that the people you are asking to
respond via this list do so because they want to help; not because they
are being paid to tolerate your sarcasm.

On Sunday, July 20, 2003, at 07:21 PM, David Hunt wrote:

>
> Dear All,
>
> I'm trying to run a simple mailing list so that people can sign up to
> receive news related to my career as a musician.  I would like it to
> be simple enough that my grandmother could sign up for it if she
> wanted to.  Right now, it is a mess - the very first person who signed
> up, who was quite computer literate, made the comment "that was a lot
> of emails!!"  So here is what I want:
>
> = When the user is asked to confirm a subscription, the confirmation
> message is a five page essay in legalese.  It should just say "to
> confirm your subscription, please reply to this message or else _click
> here_."  How do I change it?  The admin person at my web host did not
> know of a way.
>
> = After the user is confirmed, there is ANOTHER essay, longer than the
> first, detailing the web pages and passwords and all sorts of
> rediculous options they will need to remember in order to get one
> email once every two months about my music.  How do I change that
> message?
>
> = How do I make it so users don't need a password to
> subscribe/unsubscribe?  Or, maybe I can force the computer to assign
> them all the same password, even when I sign them up?  Again, my web
> admin didn't know of a way.
>
> Ideally, a person should be able to go to my website, type in their
> email address, hit "subscribe", confirm by replying to one simple
> email, and then receive the messages I send them; and then if they
> want off, they just click a link in any one of those emails.  No
> passwords, no options - just a mailing list, for goodness sake!  I
> hope that's not too much to ask.  Keep in mind when you reply that I'm
> a musician and not a unix guru.
>
> Regards,
> David Hunt
> http://dnotes.net/
>
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