Moderated Lists

In a moderated list, every piece of mail that goes out must be approved by the list owner or by a "moderator", someone set by the list owner with the ability to approve postings to the list.

Whenever a regular subscriber to the list sends an email, the message is forwarded to all the moderators. One of them needs to approve the message before it's sent to the list. If it's approved by more than one moderator, only one copy of the mail should be sent to the list.

Creating a List of Moderators

The first thing that needs to be done in order to make a list moderated is to designate moderators...

1. Go to the Moderator List Tool, http://listserv.azstarnet.com/admin/modlist.html.

2. For "List-Owner E-Mail Address" enter in your username (assuming you are the list owner).

3. For "ListServ Password" enter in the current list password.

4. For "List Address" enter in the name of the list (the mailing address for the list).

5. In the box at the bottom, enter in all the email addresses for the moderators. You must enter the exact email address and each address must be on a seperate line. If the list owner is going to be the only moderator, that person's email address must be entered.

6. Click on Submit.

7. You will be taken to a page saying that the change has been made or will explain why it wasn't accepted (such as "incorrect password").

8. Make sure the list was approved before continuing on.

Changing the List

Now that the moderators have been established, the list needs to be set to enable moderation.

1. Go to the Configuration Tool, http://listserv.azstarnet.com/admin/config.html.

2. For "List-Owner E-Mail Address" enter in your username (assuming you are the list owner).

3. For "ListServ Password" enter in the current list password.

4. For "List Address" enter in the name of the list (the mailing address for the list).

5. In the list of attributes, make sure to change "Moderated" to yes.

6. Make sure the rest of the attributes are set properly--the page has all the attributes set to the default values.

7. Click on Submit.

8. You will be taken to a page saying that the change has been made or will explain why it wasn't accepted (such as "incorrect password").

Moderating the List

Once the list has been changed, any mail sent to the list will be sent to the moderators for approval. If the moderators don't want the message going out to the list, they don't have to do anything. If they do want to pass the message on to the list, they need to take the following steps:

1. Go to the Moderator/Moderation Tool, http://listserv.azstarnet.com/admin/mod.html.

2. For "List Moderator E-Mail Address" enter in your username (assuming you are a moderator).

3. For "List Address" enter in the name of the list (the mailing address for the list).

4. For "From" enter in the email address of the person sending the mail.

5. For "Subject" enter in the Subject of their email.

6. In the "Message" box goes the text of the message. The easiest way to transfer the orginial message to the web page is to 'cut and paste' it:

Bring up the message that is to be sent to the list in whatever email program it's in (Eudora, Netscape Mail, etc.).
Go to Edit--Select All so all the text of the message is highlighted.
Go to Edit--Copy.
Go back to Netscape or whatever browser you used to go to the Moderator Tool page.
Click in the Message box.
Go to Edit--Paste.
The message should now appear in the Message box.
Remove the headers from the pasted message (the To, From, Subject, etc.).

7. Click on Submit.

8. The message will then be sent to the list in general.