Lists
WiscList : Public Lists
One of the features of WiscList is the ability to make your list public, so that anyone in the outside world can join. If you are hosting a general discussion group and are not disclosing confidential information, making your list public may add unique voices to your discussions. If you are concerned about individuals spamming the list or doing other unwanted activities, you can implement some security features while still keeping the list public.
Allowing others to see your list
WiscList provides a list of all its mailing lists that choose not to be hidden at https://lists.wisc.edu/read/all_forums. In order for others to be able to browse and find your list, it is recommended you "unhide" it by going to Utilities : List Settings : Discussion Forum Interface : Message Reading and changing Hide List to "no".
Allowing non-members to view your archives
A good way for a visitor to understand what your mailing list is all about is by reading past messages and seeing what sort of discussions take place. WiscList defaults with archiving turned off, so you will need to turn it on by going to Utilities : List Settings : Basic Information : Enable Features and changing Archive messages? to "Yes". To allow visitors to view your list's messages, go to Utilities : List Settings : Discussion Forum Interface : Message Reading and change Allow Visitors to Read Archives to "yes".
Allowing visitors to see your list information
Visitors can get a quick grasp of your mailing list's purpose by viewing the list's information. However, often times this information is available only to list members. To allow visitors to see this information, go to Utilities : List Settings : Discussion Forum Interface : Information About Your List, click on the General tab and change Allow Info to "Yes, allow non-members to see the list information".
In addition to allowing visitors to see your list information, verify the information is up to date. Click on the About This List tab. Provide keywords that describe the list under Keywords to Describe This List so that visitors may find your list by searching for related keywords. You can also add a personal touch to the list information by providing a URL to a JPEG or GIF image of your list's logo.
Under the Contact Info tab, type in a website connected with your mailing list (if one exits) under List URL. This will allow visitors to explore the group further on the web.
Finally, under Utilities : List Settings : Basic Information, make sure you have a detailed description of your list under Description, so that visitors can learn about your list in a simple glance.
By making sure all this information is up to date and visible to visitors, you can limit the amount of unwanted and offtopic traffic.
Allowing visitors to post to the list
WiscList allows you to permit non-members to post to a mailing list. You can do this by going to Utilities : List Settings : Discussion Group Features : Security and changing Reject Posts from Non-Members to "No". Although you are certainly allowed to permit this, we highly recommend you do not. Spammers can quickly flood your mailing list when there is this little security, and you will have very little defense against it when it happens. It is true that spammers can access the list by becoming a member, but in this scenario you have the ability to delete and ban the member. For this reason, we suggest that you always have a members-only list and allow anyone to join. Your list will still be public, and you will have more control over it.
Proper member management
Even though you want anybody to join the mailing list, it is a good idea to have some subscription security. Go to Utilities : List Settings : New Subscriber Policy and click on the Confirmation tab. It is recommended you set Confirm Subscribes to "yes". When this is enabled, WiscList sends an email to whatever email address the subscriber provided. The subscriber must then reply to that email to become a full member. This protects you from spamming bots on the web, and does not restrict legitimate subscribers.
Under the Security tab, you should set Security to "open" or "private". At first, your public mailing list should be set at "open" to allow anyone to join the list and start sending messages right away. However, if you find that new members are frequently abusing the list, it is a good idea to set Security to "private", where list administrators must approve each request to join.
Message approval
If you find your list is being flooded with off-topic or spam messages, but you still want it to be a public list, try moderating your list. When your list becomes moderated, list administrators must approve every message that is sent to the list. To turn this feature on, go to Utilities : List Settings : Email Submitted Content, click on the Approval tab and change Is List Moderated to "moderated".
A good way to moderate messages is to change Is List Moderated to "number moderated" and change Approve # to a small number (like 5). When you do this, new members' messages are moderated until five (or how many you designate) messages are approved. Then, their messages are sent to the list without needing approval. This way, you can easily see if a new subscriber is someone who is out to spam or flame the list. You can then delete and ban the member from the list. The best part of this configuration is that the unwanted messages never reach the list. Setting your list up this way saves you time because you don't have to approve hundreds of messages, but it still keeps out newcomers that just want to spoil the list.
For more information on how to approve messages, see our Getting Started guide.
WiscList Documentation > List Security > Public Lists