STAY CALM!
Problems facing list owners...
Sooner or later a list owner will encounter difficulty with a mailing
list... either technical with mail loops or a flood of bounced mail or
problems with a list that has lost it's direction and taken on a life of
it's own.
Unsubscribing the problem address
If you start getting a flood of bounced mail try unsubscribing the
address that seems to be causing the trouble. Sometimes this is difficult
to identify because a subscriber may be forwarding their mail to another
address... Depending on how serious the problem is you might be forced to
unsubscribe all list members (save the list) and then re-subscribe
members a few at a time...
Lists that go 'Off-Topic'...
These are potentially very difficult situations. If a list member
appears to be harassing another individual, transmitting
inappropriate information or otherwise acting in a manner that is not
consistent with the Victoria Telecommunity Network user agreement a list owner should
immediately consult the system administrator, a board member or a senior
VTN volunteer.
In some instances a list owner may not be able to consult with
Victoria Telecommunity Network before taking action. In these instances the list owner
should take the minimum intervention necessary to stabilize the situation
until it is possible to consult with Victoria Telecommunity Network. This minimum
intervention might include temporarily converting the list to moderated,
or perhaps temporarily unsubscribing a member from the list (effectively
imposing a cooling-off period).
Changing the list configuration
Changing the list to 'moderated' will require making a change to the list
configuration and should not be undertaken lightly! The configuration
file is meant to be self documenting, but will require care to make
changes correctly.
First you should retrieve the current configuration file...
- config <listname> <password>
- retrieve a self-documenting configuration file for the list
<listname>.
After making the necessary changes you should submit the revised
configuration file.
- newconfig <listname> <password>
- Validates and installs a new configuration file. It reads everything
after the "newconfig" command to end-of-message or the word "EOF" on a line by
itself as the new info for the list. The config file is expected to be a
complete config file as returned by "config". Incremental changing of the
config file is not yet supported. As soon as the config file is validated and
installed its settings are available for use. This is useful to remember if
you have multiple commands in your mail message since they will be subject to
the settings of the new config file. If there is an error in the config file
(incorrect value...), the config file will not be accepted and the error
message identifying the problem line(s) will be returned to the sender. Note
that only the error messages are returned to the sender not the entire config
file, so it would be a good idea to keep a copy of your outgoing email
message.
If you make a mistake you can re-set the list configuration be sending
mail with the following command.
- writeconfig <listname> <password>
- Write a new config file in standard form. Writeconfig forces a rewrite
of the config file with all comments and default values in place. It is useful
to use after an upgrade of majordomo since it will add the new keywords for
people to change. It also updates the documentation in the file if that has
changed.
This will re-set the list to system defaults which may be different
from the configuration that existed previously.
