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Mailing Lists at the University of Birmingham List Owner's Guide Moderated Lists

Another type of restricted list is a moderated list. This means that all messages sent to the list are viewed by a moderator who can then decide which ones are distributed via the list. These are re-sent with the password, approving the contribution. This is normally used for a large list which needs has open membership, but is likely to attract unwelcome contributions. It is also a simple way of achieving a similar effect to a restricted posting list when only one person will be posting to the list. If the list is a busy one, the moderator's job can be significant.

In order to make a list moderated, the following option must be added to the configuration file (there is an explanation of how to do this is in the configuration file section).

moderated = yes

Anything posted to the list will then be sent to the list owner for approval and re-posting to the list. If it is necessary to set a different moderator from the owner, this can also be set with the moderator option. For example

moderator = A.N.Other@bham.ac.uk

This is useful for passing on moderation temporarily when a moderator is away, or can be used to split the tasks or ownership and moderation permanently.
All email sent to a moderated list is forwarded to the moderator, unless it has been approved. In order to approve a message, the first line of the message must consist of the following

Approved: password

where password is the password of the list. For example, if the password was tre1245, the approved line would be as follows

Approved: tre1245

As moderator, you may send any message to the list if it starts with a valid approved: line. If other messages are sent to the list, and you wish to distribute them to the list, you will need to forward them, adding an approved: line at the start of the message. You may wish to remove some of the header information, such as the received lines, before sending the forwarded message.

Last Updated 05 November 1999. Please mail any comments to C.B.Bayliss@bham.ac.uk