At the risk of offering additional opinions, without having read all the
previous messages, I will mention that I like the following email commands
for consumers to operate lists with. While a web interface is a nice
option, a mailing list is always going to need to be operated with email
messages at a minimum.
list-request address handles the subscribe/unsubscribe commands, and
sends back a help message with complete instructions
when it is confused.
list-on Accepts messages and reformats the message into
the standard subscribe message for a Smartlist
list. Ignores the subject line and body of
the incoming message. Sends the formatted
message to the standard list-request address.
list-off Accepts messages and reformats the message
into the standard unsubscribe message for a
Smartlist list. Ignores the subject line and
body of the incoming message. Sends the
formatted message to the standard list-request
address.
list-change Allows existing subscribers to change their
email address by sending in one command. The
requestor needs to put the opposite address in
the Subject line. That is, if the requestor
is sending from their new address, they put
their old address in the Subject line. If the
requestor is sending from their existing
address, their new address goes into the
Subject line. This script checks the dist
file, and formats the appropriate messages to
subscribe and unsubscribe the addresses.
list-switch Allows existing subscribers to switch between
list and list-d, and back again. The subject
line and body of the message are ignored.
This script checks the dist file, and formats
the appropriate messages to subscribe and
unsubscribe the addresses.
list-vacation Allows existing subscribers to toggle between
the vacation and distribution list. While on the
vacation list, the subscriber will not receive any
messages posted to the list.
list-help Returns the help message for the list.
list-html Allows existing subscribers to designate that they
want email messages delivered in HTML format.
list-text Allows existing subscribers to designate that they
want email messages in a plain text format.
Where list is replaced by the name of the list (i.e. list-managers in this
case).
I have produced a procmail package, with the help of many talented
programmers on the Procmail list, that implements the above commands, as a
front-end to a mailing list.
This package accepts the incoming email message, reformats it into commands
understandable by the MLM, and re-mails it. It is designed for Smartlist
lists, although I expect it could be tweaked for other types of MLM's.
This package is available for free, under the GNU license, at ftp.mail-list.com
mark
