[Mailman3-dev] Suggested Features

[Barry Warsaw]

On Sun, 2004-03-14 at 23:54, Vince Sabio wrote:

> * "Semi-moderated" mailing lists (i.e., subscribers are moderated for 
> "N" posts when they subscribe, and "graduate" to unmoderated status 
> after N _approved_ posts)

Currently manual, but I could see automating this.

> * "Spot" moderation (i.e., the ability to [re-]moderate an individual 
> for "N" posts, or to permanently moderate him, at the moderator's 
> discretion). It is VERY IMPORTANT that moderation be persistent -- 
> i.e., if someone figures out he's been permanently moderated, he 
> can't unsubscribe and resubscribe and thus go back to being moderated 
> for only "N" posts. (Upon unsub/resub, the implementation should set 
> his moderation for the higher of the default list moderation count 
> and his previous moderation setting.)

This is an important point.  I'm wondering if Mailman 3 should ever
totally "forget" about a user?

> * Ability to create "filters" (preferably via the web UI) that can 
> act based on the content of incoming messages, and return a 
> customized message to the subscriber -- e.g., if a message contains 
> the word "dingleberries" (insert your favorite word there), it can 
> reject the post and send the poster a customized document, with a 
> copy of the post, including headers, attached at the bottom (in this 
> case, the "customized document" would state that, e.g., the post was 
> being returned because it contained profanity).

I have some thoughts on a more flexible "actions" framework that would
allow an admin to set up better allow, hold, reject, discard rules.

> * Ability to add custom headers, both static headers (same for all 
> subscribers) and mail-merged headers (e.g., "X-Message-To: 
> <address>", with the subscriber's address in the header).

I have a neat approach for mail merging that I think will be pretty
efficient, and should allow for stuff like the latter.

> * Ability for subscribers set NOMAIL mode for a specific length of 
> time (and/or until a specific date), at which time their previous 
> delivery mode will be restored. (This is useful when going on 
> vacation; no need to remember to set their delivery mode back to 
> MAIL, DIGEST, etc.)

Long talked about.

> * Is the Welcome message customizable? If not, it would be necessary 
> for us to be able to customize it.

Yes, but via the file system.  A good question to start talking about is
whether and what parts will be editable through the web, and what level
of permission would be required to edit some pages through the web (i.e.
a site may not trust all its list admins).  We definitely want to be
careful here not to re-invent Zope in Mailman. ;)

> * The "Urgent" message feature in M2 is nice -- but can use of it be 
> limited to just list owners/moderators?

Urgent requires a list admin password.

-Barry