(Larry, please note apology near bottom for a huge factual error I recently made, here, about balug-announce. Sorry!)
A couple of months ago, Larry was kind enough to give me the changed administrative password -- which he said had to be changed because one of the listadmins inadvertantly revealed the old one on one of the public lists. So, as mentioned, I am (once again) physically _able_ to tweak any of the settings -- but would not do so except in close consultation with other listadmins.
That same access also lets me _view_ the current settings. (Unfortunately, there's no Mailman administration "view" right grantable separately from the "edit" one.) So, for the sake of collective knowledge, here's how they're currently set up:
balug-admin-balug.org (this list) ---------------------
Administrative e-mail addresses: balugadmin@balug.org, balugadmin-admin@xav.to Explanation: These are the people who'll receive "Administer me!" nagmails from Mailman, e.g., when a posting is held for listadmin approval. Analysis: 1. Note that this roster is entirely distinct from the set of people possessing the listadmin password. A person might be in one group only, the other group only, or both. (Being in the roster of people who get nagmail but lacking access to act on it really sucks; that's the situation I've been in since early 2005 on several SVLUG lists.) 2. I'm not sure it's a good idea to list "role" e-mail addresses here, since it obscures who's involved in list administration. E.g., I really have no idea who other than Larry is looking after our lists, and this roster gives me no clues.
A terse phrase identifying this list: [null] Analysis: Bad. We really should have a list description.
An introductory description - a few paragraphs - about the list. It will be included, as html, at the top of the listinfo page: [null] Analysis: Bad. We really should have a descriptive paragraph.
Where are replies to list messages directed: Poster Explanation: I.e., we aren't doing Reply-To munging.
Send monthly password reminders: No. Analysis: Doesn't really matter much; many people dislike the periodic reminders, or raise time-wasting fusses over their supposedly "bad security", so maybe this is just as well. Subscribers who _want_ a password reminder can trigger one manually at any time.
List-specific text prepended to new-subscriber welcome message: [null] Analysis: Not a complaint, but this is a missed opportunity to say something non-generic to new arrivals.
Check postings and intercept ones that seem to be administrative requests: No. Explanation: Messages that seem to say only "subscribe", "unsubscribe", etc. would be held for listadmin scrutiny rather than sent directly out to the membership. Analysis: In my view, this Mailman feature works amazingly well and should _always_ be left on absent a very strong reason otherwise.
Maximum length in kilobytes (KB) of a message body: 40kb
Discard held messages older than this number of days. Use 0 for no automatic discarding: 0 Analysis: Since 99% of held messages are spam, I'd say "3".
Languages supported by this list: English-USA (only) Analysis: Since you can offer the other 29 languages too, without any disadvantages, why not? (It's obviously not a problem, though.)
How big in Kb should a digest be before it gets sent out: 30 Should a digest be dispatched daily when the size threshold isn't reached: Yes.
Advertise this list when people ask what lists are on this machine: Yes Analysis: Normally, this would mean you could browse at the top of the Mailman HTML tree, to see what lists are on the hosts, and find this one described there, but Dreamhost's rather odd configuration makes http://lists.balug.org/listinfo.cgi/ entirely uninformative. So, the main entry point to the three lists is the explicit hyperlinks to their individual listinfo pages on BALUG's Web pages.
Who can view subscription list: List members. Explanation: Can be set to Anyone, List members, or List admin only. Show member addresses so they're not directly recognizable as email addresses: Yes. Analysis: I personally like these two settings for most lists, as they nicely balances openness with a little bit of privacy protection. People wanting more can set a per-subscription option to "hide" their presence on the membership roster from everyone except listadmins.
Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit action is defined: Hold Analysis: This catches and holds legitimate posts from non-member addresses (which can then be added to an approved roster for subsequent postings, at the time an admin clears the posting). However, mostly, it catches and holds spam, which for practical purposes can be otherwise controlled (prevented, rejected) only earlier, at the MTA. Since BALUG cannot administer the MTA (only Dreamhost can), this probably means a boatload of spam ever day to whoever is reading mail at balugadmin@balug.org and balugadmin-admin@xav.to.
Must posts have list named in destination (to, cc) field (or be among the acceptable alias names, specified below): Yes. Alias names (regexps) which qualify as explicit to or cc destination names for this list: balug-admin@lists.balug.org, balug-admin@balug.org, balug-admin-balug.org@lists.balug.org Analysis: 1. You can thank whatever thoughtful person expanded that alias list for your ability to use reasonable names, and not just the rather over-elaborate _main_ name. 2. However, I believe the first entry's redundant, being the main, official name and thus automatically honoured.
Ceiling on acceptable number of recipients for a posting: 10 Analysis: This blocks some spam from the dumber spammers, plus hideously excessive crossposts. One might reduce it to 5 without problems.
Is archive file source for public or private archival: Public Analysis: Again, in my view, best unless you have a _real_ need for secrecy and don't mind discouraging new participants.
How often should a new archive volume be started? Monthly. Analysis: With this low traffic, I'd have picked quarterly, myself.
balug-talk-balug.org --------------------
(Options and comments same as before, except as noted.)
List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted: rick@linuxmafia.com, larry.platzek@gmail.com, rms@gnu.org Analysis: 1. This is redundant but harmless if the address _is_ subscribed, which mine (rick@linuxmafia.com) is -- so I'm removing it. Still, the thought's appreciated. 2. FYI, this roster is where addresses get autoadded to, when a listadmin approves a held post from a non-subscribed address _and_ also checks the nearby checkbox to allow postings from this address in the future.
List of non-member addresses whose postings will be automatically discarded: service@amazon.com, morinokumasan66@ocn.ne.jp Analysis: (Not a complaint, just an observation) This reflects listadmin action against a spammer, i.e., a checkbox similar to the one noted above, but to _discard_ all future postings arriving from this address. One should be careful about being fooled by forged headers, though. Also, there's really not a lot of point individually blocking sender usernames like "morinokumasan66" that are probably script-generated by the millions.
balug-announce-balug.org ------------------------
(Options and comments same as before, except as noted.)
By default, should new list member postings be moderated? Yes. Analysis: OOPS! I've made a huge error in my earlier post: The "announce" mailing list _is_ set as moderated. Larry, my apologies -- and I now dimly recall that this matter has come up before. Sorry, I'm on so many mailing lists, I can't always keep them stright. Anyhow, for the record, only the subscribed addresses of Larry, Art Tyde, and David Sifry are set so they can post without being held for listadmin scrutiny (no moderated flag).
List of non-member addresses whose postings will be automatically discarded: zonal_info1@yahoo.co.uk, eqhla.eqhla@aucma.com.cn, fred@ugramail.ru