[Mailman-Users] Curious about email confirmations for list owners...

Glenn Sieb ges+lists at wingfoot.org
Thu Mar 27 22:28:14 CET 2008


Hi List...

So I have a list on my box that's about to get a new round of 
listowners/moderators.

I created a list for the new mods/owners to play on, so I can show them 
how the interface works, etc. It's actually been a great learning 
experience for all of us, since I've never relied on email commands, 
I've always used the web commands. Anywho, it's raised a question that I 
can't really answer for them (they're an eager bunch, but they aren't 
techies, just everyday folk--just FYI):

When confirming the posting of a moderated message via email, "Why 
doesn't this work the way it says?" (their words, not mine..)

My observation: When the post comes through for approval, you an email 
with two attachments: First part is the web interface link, second 
(first attachment) the email that's being moderated, and third (second 
attachment) is how to confirm via email.

The problem is--you can't hit "reply" -- this does not work. Even 
though, to the layperson, it says to do so, since clients like 
Thunderbird and such show the text attachments inline. This is more 
pilot-error than anything, but it is confusing for non-techies, admittedly.

But, even more of a curiosity--if you open the attached email that says 
"confirm <confirmationcode>"--and hit reply--*THAT* doesn't work. The 
Subject: and To: headers are not set correctly. I use Thunderbird, some 
of the others use T-bird or Outcrack. From what I am gathering from the 
new mods, this is the same for both. I run a Mac so I don't run Outcrack 
to test with (nor do I really want to run Outcrack *blecch*).

I admit, that this took me three tries to get it right, and that 
involved just creating a new email, doing a copy/paste of the Subject 
line and making sure the email went to (listname)-request at ...

Are I/we doing this wrong? While I wholeheartedly support using the web 
interface for these things, I can understand why someone would just want 
to hit <Reply> type in the Approved: listpassword header, and do things 
that way, as well.

I've searched the FAQ, and the archives, but didn't see anything that 
addressed this. I've told them to just use the web interface, but 
they're genuinely curious as to how this works, and I'd like to help 
them understand (no less understand this myself! :-) )

Again, thank you in advance, and I hope this isn't another stupid 
question like my last one. (I admit I almost didn't send this in 
tonight, but I want to do right by my users, and if that means I have to 
eat some crow, ok fine.)

Best,
--Glenn
(Running Mailman since v2.0beta2 ... and proud of it!)



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