CoFI -- 2.4.4 Instructions for Moderators

Go backward to 2.4.3 Archives
Go up to 2.4 Mailing Lists

2.4.4 Instructions for Moderators

As moderator, one may receive:

(As list-name-approval) notification that subscribers have joined or left your list - no action required.
(As owner-list-name) messages submitted to the list - action required, see below.

Note also that new subscribers get automatically sent a copy of the current `info' for the list (prefixed by some administrative information). One can get a copy of the current info by sending the message:

To: majordomo@brics.dk
Subject: anything

info list-name

To update the info, simply send to majordomo@brics.dk a message of the form:

To: majordomo@brics.dk
Subject: anything

newinfo list-name    password for list-name
...                        the new info
EOF
info list-name

and you'll be sent confirmation of the update.

The info for each list should be kept up-to-date, and preferably include a copy of the Aims and Scope of the task group that uses the list.

Dealing with submitted messages

When someone submits a message to list-name@brics.dk, the moderator gets a message with subject `BOUNCE list-name@brics.dk: Approval required' containing the original message.

The moderator should - reasonably promptly - do one of three things:

Forward the message to the subscribers, perhaps after minor editing.
Send the message to the subscribers after major editing, and/or combined with others.
Reject the message, informing the submitter of the reason for this.

If for any reason you need to delay forwarding a submitted message for more than a (working) day, please let the submitter know about it!

To forward or send a message to the subscribers, the moderator has to send a message of the following form (N.B. FORMAT ADJUSTED 6 NOVEMBER 1998!):

To: list-name@brics.dk
Subject: anything
                           The body of your message starts here:
Approved: password for list-name
To: list-name@brics.dk
Subject: subject
From: original sender's or moderator's e-mail address
                           This one line left intentionally blank!
contents of message

N.B. The line with `Approved: ...' has to be the very first line of the message body, and must be followed immediately (no blank line!) by `To: ...', `Subject: ...', `From: ...', and any other desired header lines such as `In-Reply-To: ...', `References: ...'.

There must be a blank line between the header lines and the contents of message.

To avoid mistakes, it is recommended to use a template message with the correct required headers and password.

When forwarding a message unedited, no citation marks `>' should be added - simply copy the entire submitted message into the body of your message. Minor editing or supplementary comments should be indicated by enclosing the affected part in brackets [ ]. Remember to suppress your default signature.

This is a sample session using the standard UNIX mail program for sending a message to the tbone test list (`indium>' is merely the shell prompt):

indium> mail tbone@daimi.au.dk
Subject: 
Approved: xyzzy
To: tbone@daimi.au.dk
Subject: TEST
From: glad@daimi.au.dk
                           This line left intentionally blank!
TEST
.
indium>

Using Emacs, the buffer should look like this:

To: tbone@daimi.au.dk
Subject: 
--text follows this line--
Approved: xyzzy
To: tbone@daimi.au.dk
Subject: TEST
From: glad@daimi.au.dk
                           This line left intentionally blank!
TEST

(I'm not sure what it should look like from other mailers.)

Please complain to mosses@csl.sri.com if the guidelines above are inadequate or confusing!

CoFI : CoFI -- Version: -- November 16, 1999.
Comments to pdmosses@brics.dk