I would add these three
- Authorized poster file. As an alternative to a passworded list, which I
dread having to explain to people, I have a subscriber only list that has a
subscriber list of around 640, and a kill file of around 620 - that is, my
20 authorized posters are the only ones NOT on the kill file. It's a pain.
I'd rather have a list of people who are authorized to post. This could
also be set up so that a authorized posters needn't be subscribers. That
way, I could let a guest (Bill Gates, Bill Clinton?) post, without making
them read all the list mail.
- Rename the kill file if you're going to notify people that they are not
authorized to post. In my realm, a spot on the kill file needn't be
permanent, but the kill file message seems to needlessly worsen the
relationship between a moderator and a borderline bozo. It sounds
combative - how about "nopost"? - and how about allowing the admin to edit
the message?
- Truncate digest messages. When you read individual messages in continuing
threads, you often don't realize how much quoted material there is, down
below - but in a digest, it's just awful reading. Plus it makes the digest
several times larger than it has to be. I'd like to be able to set my digest
to truncate any message at, say the 10th line starting with a ">"
And my comments on a couple of your suggestions.
> - Add capability for user to set account not to email them their own
posts.
I'm really surprised that's a problem. I've never heard a complaint over
here about getting your own post back. I think an admin who sets his list
not to email them their own posts by default will get a surprise when people
start reposting messages, because they don't think the list is working.
> - Automatically remove individuals 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.
Not clear enough. "Domain not found" should be automatic. But many of the
other bounce errors cannot be taken literally - AOL sometimes tells me a
bunch of addresses don't exist, and a day later send them along like nothing
ever happened. I know, serves them right for using AOL, or some clueless
small ISP that can't get their mail working right, but I'm in a service
business, and I want to be able to decide to keep a subscriber.
Anyway, the admin should be able to set a bounce limit, but it shouldn't be
limited to full mailboxes.
Gary Mauer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Host/Moderator of the Window Cleaning Network
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----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, September 10, 1999 11:00 AM
Subject: [IMail Forum] (FYI) Updated Listserv Improvements Request
> 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
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>
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