[Mailman-Users] Re: Configuring Precedence

Paul H Byerly paul at thcwd.com
Sat Sep 13 20:11:27 CEST 2003


Brandon Joseph Adams wrote:
>Is there any option somewhere to configure what Mailman sets in the
>Precedence header? By default on Mandrake 9.1 (Mailman 2.0.x) it sets
>Precedence: bulk which is causing many webmail users (especially yahoo)
>to get it in the bulk/junk mail folders. The bulk mail gets dumped
>regularly and thus many users don't see the mail.

      In 2.1.2 you can turn this off by setting "Should messages from this 
mailing list include the <http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2369.html>RFC 2369 
(i.e. List-*) headers? Yes is highly recommended." to "NO".

      The next question is SHOULD you change it.  Mailman lists are by 
definition bulk, or more accurately list as they are set by newer 
versions.  Failure to accurately report this could result in someone 
labelling your list mail as spam.  At the least this could lead to you 
being on a block list, at worst your ISP or server owner could pull the 
plug on you.  I'm not saying this would be the right thing for them to do, 
but with the "war on spam" being delete first and refuse to answer 
questions later you can't be too careful.  Better to educate your list 
members about how to get the mail to where they want it.

      I have done some testing of how HotMail and Yahoo treat list mail 
(with 2.1.2).  The introductory message and any confirmation mail will go 
to the in box - period.  So you could add a message there about how to make 
sure list mail does not get lost in bulk or spam filters.  The actual list 
mail may or may not get caught, depending on the settings you have for your 
list.  When I set "Hide the sender of a message, replacing it with the list 
address (Removes From, Sender and Reply-To fields)" in the general options 
to "YES" then mail is caught by Yahoo and HotMail.


<>< Paul 





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