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Lists

WiscList : Advanced configuration of your list

  1. Login to ListManager (see Logging in)

  2. Select the list you will be configuring (see Selecting a list)

  3. Click on the Utilities tab. Select List Settings. There will be eight choices, along with a description of each choice.

The four default types of lists presented to you when creating new mailing lists are only suggestions; you can change around your mailing list to suit whatever needs you may have. The following outlines every setting in List Settings, and there are quite a few! For information on setting up your list quickly to be private or public, see our list security seciton. Although not necessary, it is recommended you go through these settings at least once in order to become familiar with the security of your mailing list and how you can change it for your exact needs.

Please note that some of these settings are for experts only, and may be difficult to understand. New users should be primarily concerned with the various security settings offered here, as they are important and easy to grasp.

 

Basic Information
Automatic Maintenance
New Subscriber Policy
Discussion Forum Interface
Discussion Group Features
Email Submitted Content
Web Created Content
Map of All Settings

Basic Information

Determine the basic settings for your list.

  1. Basics tab

    1. List name: the official name for the mailing list. This name determines the list's email address: listname@lists.wisc.edu. This name cannot be changed.

    2. List description: a short description of the mailing list, visible to users. This description can appear in email messages. Cannot contain commas ( , ) or greater than / less than characters ( < , > ).

  2. Reports tab

    1. Subscription reports: WiscList can send list administrators reports of membership activity within the list. You can specify how often and what type of reports are sent:

      1. Standard - lists each day in the report period with how many members subscribed or unsubscribed. A date is still listed if there was no membership activity.

      2. Short - same as the standard report, but only lists days with membership activity.

      3. Detailed - includes the email address and other data about members who had subscribed or unsubscribed.

    2. Delivery reports: WiscList can send list administrators reports on a mailing's status after a certain time period has elapsed. If you would like to select more than one time period, hold down the CTRL key while selecting.

  3. Enable Features tab

    1. Archive messages? Determines whether messages sent to the list are archived. If you wish to use the Discussion Forum feature, this must be enabled. If you want users to be able to receive digests or index editions, but don't want to save archives, select "Yes.." and change the Archive Days setting to "1" in Utilities > List Settings > Automatic Maintenance > Purging Archives.

    2. Recipient logging level: logs each transaction that is made with each individual recipient. There are four options:

      1. No logs - turns off recipient logging

      2. Non SMTP errors - shows error information, but does not include SMTP information.

      3. All errors - shows information about all errors associated with a recipient, including SMTP errors. For technical support reasons, this setting is recommended.

      4. Errors and successes - logs both errors and successes associated with each recipient. Consumes a large amount of list space.

    3. Enable this list as a child list: determines if list will accept messages from another mailing list. For more information on creating child/parent mailing lists, click here.

    4. Default with HTML detection? determines if the list will detect which recipients can send and/or receive HTML messages. This is useful information when deciding what content to put into your mailings.

  4. Limits tab

    1. Disable this list: allows a site or list administrator to temporarily disable mailings in a list without having to delete the entire list. No posts will be allowed, but users will still be able to subscribe or unsubscribe.

    2. Max # of members: designates the maximum number of users that can subscribe to the list. For unlimited, leave this field blank.

    3. Max # of referrals per day: restricts members to a specific number of referrals they can make per day. This prevents abuse of the referral feature

Automatic Maintenance

Keep your list at peak performance by maintaining error mail and purges.

  1. Error Mail tab

    1. Hold users: if a recipient is bouncing mail repeatedly, WiscList can put the user on hold. This stops any mailings from being sent to the user, reducing the amount of error mail received by list administrators.

    2. Bounce limit: number of deliveries that must fail before a user is held.

    3. Redirect all bounces to email address: if blank, WiscList handles all error mail. If you would like error mail sent to a different address, specify it here. If you change this setting, WiscList will no longer be able to handle your bounces, error messages, etc. It is STRONGLY recommended that you do not change this setting.

    4. Notifying users of their held status - WiscList can send an email to a held user, notifying them of their status. The user will have the option to "unhold" themselves.

      1. Notify how often: determines how often WiscList sends an email to a held user. It is recommended to never send these emails, as most held users cannot be notified, since their email address is bouncing emails.

      2. Notify for how many days: determines for how long a user will be notified of their held status. Once again, it is recommended never to notify the user.

  2. Purging Inactive Members tab

    1. Purge held: determines how long a user with a "held" status will remain on the system before being permanently removed.

    2. Purge unconfirmed: determines how long a user who has subscribed, but never confirmed their membership will remain on the system before being permanently removed.

    3. Purge unapproved: determines how long a user who has applied for membership but has not been approved by an administrator will remain on the system before being permanently removed.

    4. Purge expired: determiens how long a user who has had their membership expire will remain on the system before being permanently removed.

    5. Purge unsubscribed: determiens how long a user who has unsubscribed to the list will remain in the system before being permanently removed.

    6. Remove old referred members: determines how long a user who has been invited to join the mailing list, but has not acted, will remain on the system before being permanently removed.

  3. Purging Archives tab

    1. Keep archived messages for how many days: If archiving is enabled, this determines how long archives will be kept. A setting of 0 (zero) will result in messages benig archived indefinitely. If you do not want the list to archive any messages, disable it by setting Utilities > List Settings > Basic Information > Enable Features > Archive Messages? to "No".

    2. Keep how many messages archived: determines how many messages will be archived. A setting of 0 (zero) will result in every message being archived. If you do not want the list to archive any messages, disable it by setting Utilities > List Settings > Basic Information > Enable Features > Archive Messages? to "No".

    3. Keep mailing and clickthrough data for how many days: determines how long outgoing mailings are saved, and thus how long delivery and clickthrough data is saved. Note that performance may decline if outgoing mail for a long period of time.

New Subscriber Policy

Set the rules for how people join your list

  1. Confirmation tab

    1. Confirm subscribes: When enabled, a user is sent a confirmation notice via email to confirm their subscription to the mailing list. If the user does not confirm their subscription, they will not become a full member. This avoids mistyped email addresses and harrassment. It is highly recommended to enable this option for public lists.

    2. Confrim unsubscribes: When a user unsusbscribes, WiscList can send a confirmation notice asking the user to confirm their unsubscription. Only after confirmation will a user be unsubscribed. Most mailing lists will not require this setting to be enabled. If you feel that members may try to unsubscribe other members, you can choose from three options:

      1. Never ask for a confimation - disables this feature. All unsubscriptions are processed immediately.

      2. Require confirmation only when the unsubscription request is questionable - if the unsubscription request came from an email address different from the subscribed email address, a confirmation request will be sent. Otherwise, the user will be unsubscribed.

      3. Require confirmation for all email unsubscriptions - sends a confirmation request to anybody who tries to unsubscribe.

  2. Security tab

    1. Security: determines which people may join the list.

      1. Open - anyone can join the list

      2. Private - list administrators must approve the user before they are allowed to join

      3. Password - allows anybody who knows the list's password (defined below) to be approved immediately for subscription

      4. Closed - non-members are not allowed to apply. Only list administrators can add members.

    2. Password: If Security (above) is set to "Password", the value here will be the list's password. Non-members who wish to join will need to know this password.

    3. Allow joining by email: Determines if users may subscribe to the mailing list via email, or if they must use the web interface.

  3. Bans tab

    1. Provides a link to Utilities > Members > Bans. Here, you can manage users who are banned from the list.

Discussion Forum Interface

Set how users read messages on the web.

  1. Message Reading - settings for message reading on the web

    1. Hide list: when enabled, this option will prevent your mailing list from being seen in the Discussion Forum interface. You can still access its discussion forum pages at http://lists.wisc.edu/read/?forum=listname, where listname is the name of your list.

    2. Allow visitors to read archives: when enabled, this option will allow non-members to browse archived messages in the discussion forum interface. They will not be able to contribute to the list, but they will have full access to all messages that have been saved. If your list does not contain confidential information, this is a great way to allow visitors to "preview" a mailing list before joining it.

    3. Enable archive searching: when enabled, users will be able to perform text searches on archived messages. This setting may reduce list performance.

    4. Make available as a newgroup? When enabled, this option will give users another means to access the mailing list posts, via newsgroup. Using the latest version of Netscape or Internet Explorer, users can direct their browser to news://lists.wisc.edu/listname, where listname is the name of your list. Alternatively, they can setup a newgroup client (such as Microsoft Outlook) to view the mailing list. Posting to the list via a newsgroup is the same as posting via email, any moderation settings will be applicable.

  2. Information About Your List - General information about the list, including graphic branding and default language.
    1. General tab

      1. Topic: defines the topic for this mailing list

      2. Allow info: determines if non-members can see information about the list, including who the administrator is, and what its description is.

      3. Global: determines if and when Lyris ListManager creates a global directory of all mailing lists, yours will be included.

    2. About This List tab

      1. Long list description: reference to a document that describes the list. You may select from any document you create in Utilities > Automated Messages > Document Content. This description will appear in the About tab in the discussion forum interface.

      2. Comments On This List: reference to a document that comments on the mailing list. You may select from any document you create in Utilities > Automated Messages > Document Content. These comments will appear in the About tab in the discussion forum interface.

      3. Keywords to Describe This List: words that describe this list, separated by commas. Appears in the About tab in the discussion forum interface.

      4. URL to GIF/JPEG list logo: a URL pointing to a GIF or JPEG image that you would like to appear in your list's discussion forum interface About tab.

    3. Contact Info tab

      1. List contact: reference to an individual who is the administrative contact for the list. WiscList will list all official list administrators here. This can not be changed.

      2. List sponsor: reference to a document containing information on the organization sponsoring the mailing list. You may select from any document you create in Utilities > Automated Messages > Document Content. This information will appear in the About tab in the discussion forum interface.

      3. List URL: a link to the mailing list's homepage. This will be listed in the About tab in the discussion forum interface.

    4. Language tab

      1. Default language: default language for the mailing list.

  3. New Subscriber Requirements - Control how people join the list using the discussion forum interface.
    1. Restrict member options: determines whether users joining the mailing list via the web interface will be able to set their own membership options, such as receiving digests instead of individual posts.

    2. Ask subscribers for name: determines if a subscriber will be asked for a name, required to give a name, or not asked for a name at all when subscribing using the web interface. If you want all subscribers to be required to give a name, it is advised to setup your list so that users must use the web interface to join the list. This can be achieved at Utilities: List Settings: New Subscriber Policy: Security.

    3. Require password: determines if a user is required to setup a password, has the option to setup a password, or cannot setup a password at all. This password will be used by members when logging into the Discussion Forum interface, and adds considerable security to your list. Without a password, all one needs to know is an email address to login and post to a mailing list. If this setting is set to require a password and a user subscribes via email, a random numerical password will be sent to the subscriber. WiscList requires a password for all users subscribing via the web interface.

  4. Conference - Settings for accessibility and posting on a conference.

    1. Accessibility: determines the availibility of the conference feature.

      1. everyone - anyone, including visitors, may participate in conferences. For visitors to participate, Allow Visitors to Read Archives must be set to Yes in Utilities: List Settings: Discussion Forum Interface: Message Reading.

      2. members only - only list members may participate in conferences.

      3. disable conference - conference feature cannot be used by anyone.

    2. Posting: determines who may post to conferences, if enabled in Accessibility above.

      1. everyone - anyone may post, including visitors (if visitors is enabled).

      2. members only - only list members may post to conferences.

      3. admins only - only list administrators may post to conferences.

    3. Save posts for: determines how long posts will remain in conferences.

    4. Guest message: the message visitors see when attempting to view a conference without logging in first. This is for informational purposes only, and cannot be changed.

Discussion Group Features

Settings for discussion type lists.

  1. Message Look - change the look of messages on your discussion list.

    1. List subject: determines if a message's subject line will remain untouched, or if the list's name will be prepended to it. Many email programs allow users to filter their messages to different folders using naming rules based on a message's subject line. Adding the list's name to the subject will aid users in organizing their email.

    2. Make postings anonymous: when enabled, ListManager will remove all indentifier headers in the email, making the author anonymous. If the message needs to be approved, the author will be visible to the list administrator. Any idntifiable information written by the author in the body of message will not be recognized nor removed.

    3. Prepend to the beginning of every digest (aka header): any text entered here is added to the top of nightly digests and message indices. If you wish to use HTML coding, make sure you start the message with <HTML>.

    4. Append to the end of every digest (aka footer): any text entered here is added the end of nightly digests and message indices. If you wish to use HTML coding, make sure you start the message with <HTML>.

  2. Message Rejection Rules - define criteria for rejecting discusison list messages
    1. Blanks tab

      1. Allow blank subject: if set to "No", any message sent to the list without a subject line will be automatically rejected.

      2. Allow blank body: if set to "No", any message sent to the list without a body will be automatically rejected.

    2. Send Message Rules tab

      1. Allow duplicate postings: when set to "No", if ListManager finds a post sent has an identical body as a recent post, the message will be rejected. The original post will still go through, but any duplicates thereafter will be rejected.

      2. Allow cross-posting?: when set to "No", a post sent to your mailing list that was sent to several others will be rejected. It is considered bad Internet ettiquette to post the same message in many mailing lists. Often times these types of messages are spam. If you are running a discussion list, it is recommended to reject cross-posts. However, if you are running an announcment list, cross-posts may be appropriate, and it is recommended you allow cross-posting.

      3. Cross-postings and duplicates: this setting will determine if members will receive cross-posts from all their mailing lists, or from only one. If a member belongs to two mailing lists, and there is a cross-post that affects both mailing lists, setting your list to remove duplciate cross-posts will result in this member only receiving the cross-post from one of the mailing lists. However, if you set you list to keep duplicate cross-posts, that member will receive two copies of the cross-post, one from each mailing list.

    3. Etiquette tab

      1. Max quoting allowed: maximum number of continuously quoted lines in a message (designated by > character). When set to 0, unlimited amount of quoting is allowed.

      2. Daily message limit: maximum number of messages that can go through the mailing list in one day. This is set at 300 messages, and cannot be changed. This feature is one level of protection against mailing loops, which can flood and crash a mailing list.

      3. Message size limit: maximum message size (in bytes) that members may post. Members may try to post large attachments that others may not want to receive. This prevents them from doing so. This value is set at 10 kilobytes (10,000 bytes). List administrators may post messages of any size.

      4. Max posts per member: sets the maximum number of posts a member may send in one day. A setting of 0 allows an unlimited number of posts.

  3. Security - Security settings for discussion lists

    1. Reject posts from non-members: determines if non-members may post to the list. If you set this to "No" and do not moderate posts, then anybody can send a message to the list and it will reach all of its members.

    2. Security of members list: determines the level of security on the member's list. You can set your list to only allow list administrators to see the member list, list members to see the member list, or anybody to see it. To respect the privacy of your members, it is recommended that you do not reveal this information to non-members. When changing this setting, it is good etiquette to inform the mailing list of its privacy changes.

Email Submitted Content

Features for handling email submitted content

  1. Message Wrapping tab

    1. Prepend to beginning of every message (aka header): adds the text to the beginning of every message sent to the list via email. If you want to use HTML, be sure to put <HTML> at the beginning of your message, otherwise WiscList will "protect" the < and > characters and display them in the message, along with other HTML coding.

    2. Append to end of every message (aka footer): adds the text to the end of every message sent to the list via email. If you want to use HTML, be sure to put <HTML> at the beginning of your message, otherwise WiscList will "protect" the < and > characters and display them in the message, along with other HTML coding.

  2. Security tab

    1. Reject email submissions: turns on or off email submissions. If set to Yes, users must use the discussion forum interface to post messages. All email submissions will be rejected. This feature is helpful if you need a high amount of security, as it reduces the amount of "trolling", or people impersonating other people.

    2. Only admins can send: when set to Yes, only list administrators may post to the mailing list, via email or otherwise. This feature is useful for announcement lists, where one or two people need to communicate with a large group, but don't want the members to post to the mailing list.

    3. Require password in body: determines whether list members need to place their user password (if existent) in the message body in order to post to the list via email. If you enable this and want all users to have a password, make sure to set Require Password to require a password from everyone in Utilities: List Settings: Discussion Forum Interface: New Subscriber Requirements.

  3. Approval tab

    1. Is list moderated: determines if messages posted to the list are automatically approved, or if a list administrator needs to approve them.

      1. Not moderated - mesages do not need to be approved, and will be posted to the mailing list upon reception

      2. Moderated - every message sent to the list must be approved by a moderator

      3. Number moderated - only the first few messages by a new user need to be approved, then they can post without moderation

    2. Approve # for number moderated: (Is list moderated must be set to "Number moderated" above) - determines how many posts must be approved for a new user before they are allowed to post without approval.

    3. Release moderated messages: determines how long an unapproved (but not rejected) message can wait until it is automatically approved and posted to the list. If you are tired of approving countless messages, set this value to "the same day". This way, after you are done reading a message to be approved sent to your inbox, you dont' have to do any further action. The message will be automatically approved at midnight.

    4. Automatically release messages at: if you have Release moderated messages set to some definite value, this setting will determine at what time of that day the message will be released.

  4. Email Header tab

    1. Change date to send date: when a message is sent to a list, the message's timestamp is defined by the email program of the user sending it. However, the message may not be sent to the list until much later, when it is approved. This setting will change the message's timestamp to when the message was sent by ListManager.

    2. Add list help headers: adds information on subscribing, unsubscribing, etc. to the email's headers. This information follows current standards, and can be used by some email programs to assist users in carrying out these tasks. Because most email programs do not show email headers (as they are usually long and technical), enabling this will not change how the message appears.

    3. Rewrite Message-ID header: determines if ListManager should rewrite the Message-ID header to include human-readable information, such as the recipient's e-mail address. This can be very helpful when diagnosing permanent failure, and is recommended to be enabled. Because most email programs hide email headers, this setting will not change how messages appear.

    4. Append to SMTP header: if you wish to include additional information in the list's email headers, include it here. Important! It is recommended that you do not add any information here, unless you are familiar with the syntax used in email headers. Misusing this feature may result in email errors.

  5. Header Rewrites tab

    1. From: changes the From: email header. By default, the message's author will be displayed in the message's From field. However, if you wish to conceal your list members' indentities, you can have the From: field be the same for every message sent to the list. A good value to put in here is the list's name and e-mail address itself, making every message appear as though it simply came from the mailing list.

    2. Reply-to: by default, ListManager places the list's email address in this field. However, you can have the author's email address placed here by entering author. You can also enter a name and e-mail address in this field.

    3. To: replaces the To: header in every message sent to the list with the specified value. You can place a specific email address in this field, or you can use the mailmerge syntax %%nameemail%% or %%emailaddr%% to place the recipient's name and e-mail address, or just their email address (respectively) in the To: field. In announcement lists, the default is the recipient's name and email address. Discussion lists place the list's name and email address in the To: header by default.

    4. Remove headers: you can specify specific fields from being included in email headers here. It is recommended that you are familiar with SMTP email headers before changing this value.

Web Created Content

Features for handling web created content.

  1. Default From: when creating mailings using the web interface, this will be the default value in the From: field. You can type in a specific email address and name, or you can type in login to use the name of whoever is logged in to ListManager at the time.

  2. Default To: when creating mailings using the web interface, this will be the default value in the To: field. You can use a specific name and address, or you can use the %%nameemail%% or %%emailaddr%% tags.

  3. Default Subject: when creating mailings using the web interface, this will be the default value in the Subject: field.

Map of All Settings

A comprehensive index to all list settings.

This features provides a tree-like structure (as used in this documentation file) to navigate the myriad of list features. Come here to quickly find which setting you're looking for

 

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