Folks, here is the updated listserv improvements request as of today. Have no idea if each of these items will make it in the next rendition of IMail, but this is what I have asked for. I forwarded this list here several weeks ago and since this topic has come up a time or two since then thought I'd forward it on again. 10 Sep 99 Imail Listserv Upgrades In Priority Order - Administrator should be able to sub or unsub individuals via email without listserv intrepreting command as a request to unsub/sub administrator. Current method of requiring alias accounts is not really workable because many people having trouble do not send subscribe requests that can be forwarded and parsed. They require a manual subscription, which in turn does not automatically send that person a subscribe notice. - Would like to see auto-confirmations/authentications of subscription/unsub requests, but not when a list admin subs someone via email. Imail should be able to interpret list commands even with other text in the body. Right now IMail throws an error if there is any other text in body of email when someone subscribes or even if the command string does not start in the very first column of the email. One space between the left side of the email and the beginning of the command string will generate an error. Even a single > causes an error (no such list). Also, Imail is not able to process list commands if it's not the only address on an email. - Build in database functionality similar to the users database. Tables for each list should be created automatically when a list is created and all subscribers should be entered when they sub, and deleted when they unsub. Columns for mail mode and digest mode should be included so that queries can be run against the database for custom listserv environments. For instance if a subscriber subs to any of our mailing lists I want to sub them automatically to our monthly newsletter. It would be very easy to run a query against the database when the sub to the first list to check if they are already subbed to the newsletter, and if they are, not sub them to it. If they were not already subbed to the newsletter to go ahead and sub them. I think this is a biggie and would open up all kinds of possibilities to your customers. Should be very easy to implement also. - Deny all attachments to a list. Innumerable times we receive complaints of list attachments. Although you can turn these off (non-text attachements only) in digest mode, we need a way to deny attachements of any kind to mail or digest mode. - Administration of all list settings via email. Would like to be able to have distributed list admins set commands/settings for their list directly from email. Would be a time saver over having to visit the list admin site for every list, but would like to also retain the abililty to configure lists via the panel as well. It might be hard to do this with the various text files (header, trailer, subscribe, etc..) so I guess just stick with the other settings. If you can figure a way to update/modify the text files through email I highly recommend it. - would like to send auto-confirmations/authentications of unsubs. But not when a list admin unsubs someone. Also the list administrator should get unsub notifications similar to sub notifications. - Automatically remove indivuals for bounced posts. Remove people automatically if account has been closed or domain not found. Remove people after a predetermined number of bounces (set by admin) when mailboxes are full. - ARCHIVE!!!! Need a text based archive BAD! Posts should be parsed on a nightly or predetermined basis (set by admin) to be archived as text files. You could perhaps look at something along the lines of MHonArc.. try adding it to your cgi suite. - Remove the 1000 character limit to the Help and Subscribe files through the Listserv admin panel. They should be set to unlimited size. - People placed in Kill file should not receive kill notices (unauthorized poster) sent as a result of post. Posts made by anyone in the kill file should automatically routed to the list administrator with notification that the individual has been placed in the kill file. The list admin could forward the post on to the list at his/her discretion. - Subscription requests sent to private lists automatically forwarded to list owner, who can then subscribe them via email, or ignored. - Kill the "you are already subscribed" notifications to the subscriber if they attempt to subscribe to a list they already subbed to. If they're already subbed Imail should simply ignore the request. - Some form of twit mode. User can post to the mail list, but no one else would see the post. This would be a List implementation for the IRC ignore command set by the list administrator. - Enable complete disablement of the list command. By this I mean individuals should not be able to retrieve a list of the lists hosted via the mail server, or a list of the users on a list. - Automatic alphabetizing of lists, subscribers, etc... This is not a big issue if you implement the database for list subscribers as well, but for those who either choose not to use the database, or if you don't implement it, this would be a boon. - Would like lists to post subjects at the beginning of each digest. By this I mean the posts comprising a digest should be parsed and their subjects added in sequential order at the top of every digest. Also old digest directories should be deleted after digests have been sent and all posts archived... see archive request. - Would like to see some "throttling" capability added that would limit customers ability to send more than an arbitrary number of messages in a given hour. The arbitrary number should be set by the mail admin. Also, might think about including a day variable so the list admin can set up a probationary period where users could not send over a number of posts to the list for a number of days. - Improved moderation capability. By this I mean I would like posts to be scanned for phrases or words and have those posts held while letting others through without a moderator having to approve every post him/herself. I'm basically talking about foul language, or urls which point to adult sites... something along this line. - Automatic de-htmling of messages. Add list option for automatic deformating of html formatted messages (the way it does it now is really ugly--leaving html tags in the body of the text) messages sent in in HTML format. - Add capability for user to set account not to email them their own posts. ----- Anthony Abby Genealogy Exchange & Surname Registry - http://www.genexchange.com GenExchange FAQ - http://www.genexchange.com/faq.cfm About the GenExchange - http://www.genexchange.com/volunteers.cfm How can I help? - http://www.genexchange.com/volunteering.cfm Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list.
