[Mailman-Users] Moderation history

[Peter Shute]

Richard Damon wrote:
> > Our users are moderated on subscribing, and then 
> unmoderated after a probation period. Some are moderated 
> again for bad behaviour, then unmoderated for a period, then 
> moderated again, etc.
> >
> > In making decisions about who to unmoderate, it would be 
> useful to see the user's history. I.e. when they subscribed, 
> when they were unmoderated, etc. At the moment we can't even 
> tell why someone is moderated, and the only history I've got 
> is the subscription alert emails I save.
> >
> > On top of that we have many users who unsubscribe instead 
> of turning off mail delivery when they go on holidays, so 
> they become moderated again when they resubscribe.
> >
> > Does mailman keep a record of this stuff?
> >
> > Peter Shute
> >
> To my knowledge, mailman does not keep track of this. I have 
> the list software send me notices of messages held for 
> moderation and file them in a folder sorted by subject. When 
> I get a new notice I can see previous messages about the 
> person. If you put a person on moderation, you could send 
> yourself a message with that same subject, recording why they 
> were put on moderation.

Thanks for that. It ought to be reasonably easy for mailman to log the moderation and unmoderation of list members, and subscription  events. I wonder if anyone else would find that useful. It would need to let moderators log a reason for moderation and unmoderation.

We are already using the notices as a sort of history, but because there are several moderators, it can become haphazard, especially when using mobile devices that don't have access to the archive of notices, so a central log would be more convenient. The idea of an email to ourselves about reasons for moderation is good, if we remember to do it.

Peter Shute