If you have a list that is being hosted by eldar.org, then these pages will contain information you need. If you don't have any mailing lists at eldar.org, then what are you doing here? Please leave. :)

1. Responsibilities of the List Owner
1. You are responsible for the list
2. You are to be findable
3. You are to report any problems
4. You are to run your own list
5. You need to respond to official email, in a timely fashion
2. FAQ's
1. What's the purpose of these pages?
2. Why don't you just use a mailing list to keep us updated?
3. How often will things be updated?
4. I have a great idea, will you do it?
5. HELP!! I have a problem!
6. I would like to start another mail list, will eldar.org host it?
7. How do I put files on eldar.org for people to 'get'?
8. What is an archive or digest?
9. Who are you?
10. Yeah, what about this Brad guy?
11. I want more information on eldar.org
3. List Stats
   1. People Stats
   2. MailWatch
   3. LogMail
4. MHonArc Wed Archive
5. List Owner Tips
1. Config file tips
1. Use the 'comments' tag
2. Keep the 'description' tag accurate
3. Use 'digest_volume' for something useful
4. Put 'message_footer' to a good use
5. The great Table Of Contents for digests
6. Hide/Unhide your list
7. Who to 'reply_to'?
8. Stop posting to the list
9. Which List?
10. Make sure they are who they say they are
11. I can see you
2. Intro/info file tips
1. Put subscribe/unsubscribe information in them
2. Your email address
3. Don't forget the web pages
4. Don't forget the web pages
3. Web page tips
1. Provide some kind of web documents
6. MajorCool
7. Subscribe/Unsubscribe Web Interface
1. General Description
2. HTML that is needed on your web page
3. Examples of its output
8. System Announcements
9. Web Page Update History
10. List-Owner-Info
1. Introduction
2. Documented commands
3. Undocumented commands
4. Configuring your list
5. Approval
6. Bounced Messages
7. Moderation
8. Restricting Posting
9. Archive
10. Digest

1. You are responsible for the list

This means that whatever goes over it, it your responsibility. It is your responsibility to keep the list on topic (if that is your idea for the list). Each list has a topic. If that list sticks to that topic, is the List Owners responsibility. The rules of the list, are also up to the List Owner. It is not a concern of eldar.org of what goes on on the LISTS, unless it is causing some kind of problem on the machines. We (eldar.org) doesn't monitor the lists, except to gather basic stats about them. We (eldar.org) do not read any of the posts.

2. You are to be findable

We (eldar.org) needs to be able to contact you. This "contact" will be via email, unless there is some security issue or something along those lines. This means that you must check your email regularly, and you must respond to an inquiry asking if you are around. If we get bounces from your email address (like a mailbox is full, or the username is unknown), steps will be taken to find you, and to take actions for the list. Either by finding a new owner, or discontinuing the list. There of course will be a grace period. This grace period will depend on how long you have been "unfindable". It usually amounts to a month, unless there is an urgent need. If we receive bounces from your email address, that are not user related (such as another computer problem) this will be taken into consideration.

If we can not find get into touch with you, we don't know if you are there, have left, or if something serious has happened. For this reason, we do ask that you inform us if you will be gone, and unable to check your email for an extended period of time. We also ask that you keep us updated of any email address changes

3. You are to report any problems

If you notice that there seems to be a problem with either your list, or Majordomo in general, notify me (spunge@ripco.com) so that I can look into it. Maybe there is something wrong.<

4. You are to run your own list

This really means two different things. First, you need to run it. Don't pass the "ownership" to anyone else, without notifying me. We need to know the person that is running the list. If for some reason the ownership needs to change hands, let us know.

Secondly, this means that you must be competent to run your own list. I will assist you in understanding different commands, but I will not run your list for you. If there is something going on that you don't understand, ask me. I will try to explain it so you understand.

5. You need to respond to official email, in a timely fashion

If an official message is passed to you, or to your list from Benji Spencer (spunge@ripco.com) or Brad Spencer (brad@anduin.eldar.org) and there is a response expected, the response needs to be done as soon as possible. These messages will usually be signed with PGP. Whether you know/use it or not, it doesn't matter, it is just a way to tell if it is from us. If there are questions if it is from us, email the correct address back, and ask.

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There actually is one set up, and from time to time something that is "urgent" will go over it. For the not so urgent things, I think it is better to let you come to the information when you have time, weather then "send" you the information when you don't.

I don't know. As something new comes up I will update you all. I imagine sometime I will put some generic stats here, and they will be updated probably weekly.

Maybe, Maybe not. if it is found to be useful and it is a good way to do it, sure. I will look into it. That is part of the reason for these pages, I thought it might be useful for people.

Well, let me know about it. I will see what I can do about it. It is a toll free email :)
NOTE: Only email me if it is Majordomo/List related. If your cat is stuck in the tree, I don't think there is much I can do to help.

Yes, probably. The same questions will be asked about size/posting though. If you are interested in another list, just email me, and we will talk about it.

Majordomo has the ability to act as a small file server of sorts. With the use of the index and get commands, people can get files that are put there for them. This only leaves one thing left, how do you, the list-owner, put files there for them to get. Unfortunatly Majordomo doesn't have this ability built in. What you need to do to put files on valinor for others to get, is to send me these files. They must be plain text files. I will put them there for you. There are certain files that are already there though. if you have Majordomo archiving your list, then the archives are available via the get command, as are the digests, if you run a digest list. Don't worry about bugging me about putting them there, it is part of my job , and I will happily do it.

These two are a lot alike. Basically their purpose is to group the email that comes over the list, and either store it for later retrieval, or to send it out to list members.

An archive has one email message appended to the end of another, creating one file, that contains both email messages. As time goes on this grows, until all of the days, months, or years emails are contained in the one file. Once the one file is full, another file is created. What decides when the file is full, is by the date. This all depends on what is wanted, and what options I set when I set up the list. A new file can be created by day, by month, or by year. This file never really goes anywhere. It is just stored for later retrieval.

A digest is pretty much like an archive. The email messages are all saved up until they meet a certain requirement. Once that requirement is met, the digest is sent to the list members. There is some fancing up in the digest, just to make it look more presentable then the archive. The digest is only sent to those who want it. It really is another list, which means it is fully configurable also. The digest limits can be based on the size of the digest, a certain number of days since the last post to the list, the number of lines in the digest, it can be triggered at a certain day or time, or a combination of any of the above.

I am Benji Spencer, but I also manage (take care of, administer) Majordomo at eldar.org. Anything dealing with majordomo should be addressed to me, and not Brad.

Well, hopefully you won't hear from him often. Brad is the owner of eldar.org. That means, it is his domain, and the lists (and everything else) are run on his computers. He has the final say in everything.

You can take a look at the eldar_info web page. It should answer most of your questions. If it doesn't you can either email Brad or Benji. between the two of them, they can answer your questions.

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At eldar.org, three kinds of stat reports are currently suped. List owners can choise to use both, one of them, or none. In order to use any of them though, Benji has to be notified so that he can set them up.

People Stats

These are a web based stats that I created. I suppose I could fdo more with it, but not sure what would be wanteD? If you think of something useful, let me know. Here is an example:

Last Updated: 1/28/98 15:52:0

TOC

• per-person
• Posts by Hour
• Posts by Day
• Posts by Month
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • may
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December

Total Posts: 2710
Current Number of Members: 33

---

Percent of Total (2710)	Member Name (number of posts they had)
20.295%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (550 posts)
6.974%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (189 posts)
5.387%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (146 posts)
4.207%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (114 posts)
3.875%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (105 posts)
3.838%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (104 posts)
3.395%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (92 posts)
3.284%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (89 posts)
3.137%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (85 posts)
3.100%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (84 posts)
2.989%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (81 posts)
2.583%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (70 posts)
2.472%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (67 posts)
2.472%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (67 posts)
2.362%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (64 posts)
2.251%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (61 posts)
2.251%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (61 posts)
2.140%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (58 posts)
2.030%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (55 posts)
1.919%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (52 posts)
1.808%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (49 posts)
1.808%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (49 posts)
1.771%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (48 posts)
1.402%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (38 posts)
1.402%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (38 posts)
1.070%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (29 posts)
0.886%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (24 posts)
0.812%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (22 posts)
0.775%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (21 posts)
0.664%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (18 posts)
0.517%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (14 posts)
0.443%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (12 posts)
0.443%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (12 posts)
0.443%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (12 posts)
0.369%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (10 posts)
0.369%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (10 posts)
0.295%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (8 posts)
0.258%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (7 posts)
0.185%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (5 posts)
0.148%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (4 posts)
0.148%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (4 posts)
0.148%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (4 posts)
0.148%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (4 posts)
0.111%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (3 posts)
0.074%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (2 posts)
0.074%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (2 posts)
0.074%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (2 posts)
0.074%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (2 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)
0.037%	xxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (1 posts)

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	12 am	1 am	2 am	3 am	4 am	5 am	6 am	7 am	8 am	9 am	10 am	11 am
Posts	142	98	94	71	44	59	95	93	81	67	48	59
% of Total	5.24	3.62	3.47	2.62	1.62	2.18	3.51	3.43	2.99	2.47	1.77	2.18
	12 pm	1 pm	2 pm	3 pm	4 pm	5 pm	6 pm	7 pm	8 pm	9 pm	10 pm	11 pm
Posts	75	76	63	118	131	132	184	158	240	224	201	157
% of Total	2.77	2.80	2.32	4.35	4.83	4.87	6.79	5.83	8.86	8.27	7.42	5.79

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	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
Posts	357	458	418	390	382	362	343
% of Total	13.17	16.90	15.42	14.39	14.10	13.36	12.66

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January - 1597 Total Posts (58.930% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts	25	32	23	20	47	22	28	41	63	48	65	87	73	43	56	58	23	59	65	79	91	54	57	77	70	80	46	37	31	43	54

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Febuary - 1113 Total Posts (41.070% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts	37	22	53	71	61	55	31	15	72	45	49	17	7	21	33	38	30	26	45	19	23	58	47	70	45	52	28	43

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March - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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April - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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May - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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June - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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July - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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August - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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September - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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October - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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November - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

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December - Total Posts (0.000% of Total)
Day	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Posts

Run Time: 24 seconds

MailWatch

MailWatch is another form of report that eldar.org supports. Kind of handy also. it is designed to be more of an email report, then one for the web. You can look at an example output below.

Mailinglist Traffic Report                         Wed Feb 12 14:46:24 1997
======================================================================
Report interval ------: Since Thu Feb  6  0:00:01 1997 (7.00 days)
Oldest post ----------: Thu Feb  6  0:21:00 1997
Most recent post -----: Wed Feb 12 12:57:00 1997 
Total posts ----------: 493
Total unique posters -: 109
Total unique subjects : 204
======================================================================

Breakdown by day: (492 posts, average of 70.3 posts per day.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
        
        Feb 12 | Feb 11 | Feb 10 | Feb  9 | Feb  8 | Feb  7 | Feb  6 
          3    |   50   |   126  |   46   |   55   |   132  |   80 

Top 10 Posters (Representing 28.8% of the total traffic.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
        22 (4.5 %)      Joe Bob Briggs 
        17 (3.4 %)      Adolph Demarrazio 
        15 (3.0 %)      John Schmidt 
        14 (2.8 %)      xxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
        14 (2.8 %)      xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (Linda DeMateio)
        13 (2.6 %)      xxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx
        12 (2.4 %)      Chris Thompson 
        12 (2.4 %)      Anna Jillington 
        12 (2.4 %)      xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx
        11 (2.2 %)      He Who Must Be Deleted 

Top 10 subjects (Representing 38.3% of the total traffic.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
        40 (8.1 %)      diaphragms
        28 (5.7 %)      Childhoods - good/bad.
        25 (5.1 %)      Regrets (Chuck the Euphemisms)
        18 (3.7 %)      Kittens
        17 (3.4 %)      Song du-jour
        13 (2.6 %)      Messages to Myself
        13 (2.6 %)      Great Pyramid?
        12 (2.4 %)      Picoreview: B5 "Into The Fire"
        12 (2.4 %)      Ask Boston Elbows: Breakfast cafe?
        11 (2.2 %)      star trek & sex

Hourly distribution of postings: 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
         1 2 1           1 3 3 3 2 3 2 3 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 2
         4 1 1 7 3 3 4 7 9 2 3 4 7 3 6 7 3 1 5 5 0 3 6 8
        |---------- AM ---------|---------- PM ---------|

======================================================================
MailWatch v0.34 by Shayde.            http://www.homeport.org/~shevett

LogMail

LogMail is the stats program I would recomend you want to use. below is the output from it.

Mail Traffic Report for list 'zfs' for Sat Feb 21 23:11:26 1998
========================================================================
 Report interval: Since Wed Dec 31 00:00:01 1997 (052 days)
     Oldest post: Thu Feb 19 07:09:00 1998
Most recent post: Sat Feb 21 22:56:00 1998
     Total posts: 69
Report threshold: 
========================================================================

Top 10 Posters (representing 75.4% of the total traffic)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
28 (40.6%)  "ZFS GM" 
 4 ( 5.8%)  Karen Stephens 
 4 ( 5.8%)  xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx (Cadet B Law)
 3 ( 4.3%)  xxx@xxxxxxx.xxx
 3 ( 4.3%)  Joe Miller 
 2 ( 2.9%)  xxxx@xxxxx.xxx
 2 ( 2.9%)  "Joseph Davidson" 
 2 ( 2.9%)  Dean Kay 
 2 ( 2.9%)  Salion 
 2 ( 2.9%)  xxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx

Top 10 Subjects (representing 65.2% of the total traffic)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 (11.6%)  [zfs] Team 2 -- Olympus
7 (10.1%)  [zfs] Team 3---> Finalising Plans
6 ( 8.7%)  [zfs] Warp Core Awards
4 ( 5.8%)  [zfs] ZFS - Five: Our Buns are cooked....how do you like your steak?
4 ( 5.8%)  [zfs] OOC
4 ( 5.8%)  [zfs] OOC--> Mail problems?
3 ( 4.3%)  [zfs] ONE Jason
3 ( 4.3%)  [zfs] Four Taking a chance
3 ( 4.3%)  [zfs] 2: Introductions
3 ( 4.3%)  [zfs] ONE Getting a MAP

Distribution of posts by day    (scale is 1.0 '*'s per post)
69 posts   18 posts/day min   31 posts/day max   1.3 posts/day avg
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feb 21 (20)|********************
Feb 20 (18)|******************
Feb 19 (31)|*******************************

Distribution of posts by hour of the day    (scale is 1.0 '*'s per post)
69 posts   0 posts/hr min   15 posts/hr max   2.9 posts/hr avg
------------------------------------------------------------------------
00.00 ( 1)|*
01.00 ( 0)|
02.00 ( 1)|*
03.00 ( 0)|
04.00 ( 1)|*
05.00 ( 2)|**
06.00 ( 1)|*
07.00 ( 3)|***
08.00 ( 0)|
09.00 ( 0)|
10.00 ( 2)|**
11.00 ( 3)|***
12.00 ( 3)|***
13.00 ( 0)|
14.00 ( 2)|**
15.00 ( 1)|*
16.00 ( 3)|***
17.00 ( 1)|*
18.00 ( 1)|*
19.00 ( 4)|****
20.00 (15)|***************
21.00 (10)|**********
22.00 (10)|**********
23.00 ( 5)|*****

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This is a web based archive system. It takes the archives help by Majordomo and uses them to create an online archive. It actually is rather cool :) You can read about it at its local doc page. It is very customizable so you can make it look like anything you want more or less. Here are some examples of MHonArc in action. You might note that none of them are local to eldar.org, there is no real reason for this, I just chose not to.

comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi
A Framed Example
http://www.cbl.ncsu.edu/DiscussionGroups/MHonArc/mail4.html
Apache Week
Listserve ea

I am not overly impressed with any of them. I have seen much cooler ones before. If you find some that are neat in some way, let me know so I can list them here.

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Config file tips

1. Use the 'comments' tag

I have been (recently) just putting the date that the list was created under this tag. However, feel free to use it for your own use. It won't change over time, as the 'comments' section is kept over config file re-writes.

2. Keep the 'description' tag accurate

Keeping this tag accurate according to the topic of the list will be useful for those people who use the 'lists' command of Majordomo. There is only room for about 50 characters, so a short, precise description is needed.

3. Use 'digest_volume' for something useful

   This only applies to those of you who have a digest list. Use the 'digest_volume' for something relevant to your list. This is sometimes set to the last two digest of the current year. Leaving it at one (or any number) doesn't break up the digests over time. This number also will not change over time. To change it, you have to do it by editing your config file.

4. Put 'message_footer' to a good use

It is often wise to have the unsubscription information, and/or a human contact email address in the 'message_footer'. This makes it easy for people to leave the list or contact you if they are having problems.

5. The great Table Of Contents for digests

If you set the 'message_fronter' to "_SUBJECTS_" on a digest list, it will display the subject lines of all the email messages that are in that digest. This is handy for a "quick look" of what is in the digest.

6. Hide/Unhide your list

Unless you have changed it, or requested it, your list is visible to Majordomo's 'lists' command. This command lists all of the lists (and their descriptions) that are on eldar.org. To "hide" your list from this command, put "/.*/" (without the quotes) under 'noadvertise'. If you want your list to be seen, and it isn't, it probably means that you have "/.*/" in the 'noadvertise' section. Simply remove it.

7. Who to 'reply_to'?

List owners/managers fight about this one. You can set the value of this to anyone/thing you would like. Typically, it is set to either '$SENDER' (the Reply-to: field of an email, contains the senders address), or listname@valinor.eldar.org (the Reply-to: field contains the email address of the list).

8. Stop posting to the list

The 'restrict-post' field probably should be set to 'listname' (replace 'listname' with the name of your list). This will bounce any message that someone sends, that is not on the list. This is a security measure.

9. Which List?

Many times it is easier for people to see from what list an email came from, if the 'subject_prefix' tag is set. This tag can be set to the list (by '$LIST') or to anything you want.

10. Make sure they are who they say they are.

By setting 'subscribe policy' to 'auto+confirm' any email address, and subscribe any other email address, but it also sends a "confirmation" message to the one being subscribed to make sure that they are the ones wanting this to happen. This is a security measure, and I recommend either setting it auto+confirm, or open+confirm (in the later, only the email address sending the message, can subscribe to the list)

11. I can see you

The 'who_access' tag allows you to set who can see who is on the list. I strongly recommend setting this to 'closed', other wise spammers can get the email address that are on your list.

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intro/info file tips

1. Put subscribe/unsubscribe information in them

It is often a wise idea to put subscribe information in the 'info' file, so that the people reading it can know how to subscribe. It also is a good idea to put at least unsubscribe (though it is good to even put subscribe information in) in the 'intro' file. This just makes it easy for people to join or leave the lists.

2. Your email address

Be nice, and put an email address of a human in these files. Whether this is your real address (joe@there.com) or the one related to the list (listname-owner@valinor.eldar.org, where listname, is the name of your list). This just makes it easy for someone who is having problems/has a question to talk to a human.

3. Don't forget the web pages

It is useful to put the web page address for the list (if the list has one) in the info/intro files. This way the people can go and check out things before they join. If you need space for your mailing lists, you got some when you received an account on eldar.org.

4. Provide a small FAQ/rules

It is often to your benefit to have some FAQ's or rules listed in both the 'info' and 'intro' files. This gives the subscribers an idea of what to expect from the list. One thing that needs to be listed in the FAQ, is the posting address for the list

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Web page tips

1. Provide some kind of web documents

Having a list web page, is often useful since this page can provide the reader with what to expect, how to join, where to post, and FAQ's. It is also usually possible to create an online database of the lists posts for review. It is much easier to read a web page, that is filled with color and pictured, then a text email.

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I will first tell you that it is a rather handy program for updating the different settings for the lists. There are two parts to MajorCool you need to know about, one is the documentation for it, the other is the interface. I didn't write the docs, nor the program (I think that is evident), but if you have questions about it, you can ask me and I will see what I can do.

Everything that MajorCool can do, can be done via the email commands (given in the list-owners-info file you should have gotten). In fact, there is one area that MajorCool currently doesn't handle. It is the "intro" files. You need to use the email way of updating them. I encourage you to use the web interface, if you are not comfortable with the email commands. The one thing that MajorCool does not handle, is subscription/unsubscription on your web pages.

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One thing to note is we have tried to add some security measures to it. it would have been very easy, for someone to attempt to subscribe or unsubscribe a lot of people from the lists. Since the actual form will be in places where I can't control it, we have done our best to make it secure (and still are working to improve this part of it). One of the security features, is that only once every four minutes can the script be used. If two people try to access it within the same four minutes, the second one will get a little error message. I have provided an example of this error message below. As you do look at the examples, you will notice the different background colors. There is white (for errors) and this neat orange color (for successful operations).

I did write this, and tried to make it easy to use, and hoped to have some custom options. Here are the details.

The first thing I will give you, is the HTML that is needed. I have only listed only what is needed (basically), but I hope you liven it up :)

Nope, not fancy, but again, it would be nice if you made it look better. There are a few things which are required. As you can see, there are basically 10 lines (the "INPUT" lines" that are needed, and two others). Here are the ones that are required:

Required Parts

1. <FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="http://anduin.eldar.org/~major/cgi-bin/sub-unsub.pl">
1. The "METHOD" should be "POST"
2. The "ACTION" needs to equal where the PERL script is. This is (and must be) located on eldar.org. Specifically "http://valinor.eldar.org/~major/cgi-bin/sub-unsub.pl"
3. You must use "valinor.eldar.org" and not "anduin.eldar.org" for the script to work. If you use "anduin.eldar.org" you get a nifty little error message back.
2. E-Mail Address:<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="EMAIL" size="50" MAXLENGTH="80">
1. You need to leave this line alone, except for the "size" and "MAXLENGTH"
2. "EMAIL" (in NAME="EMAIL") must be capitalized
3. <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="SUBUNSUB" VALUE="SUB" CHECKED>
1. "SUBUNSUB" (in NAME="SUBUNSUB") and "SUB" (in VALUE="SUB"> must be in capitals
2. "CHECKED" only means that "Subscribe" is the default item that is selected
4. <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="SUBUNSUB" VALUE="UNSUB"> Unsubscribe
   
1. "SUBUNSUB" (in NAME="SUBUNSUB") and "SUB" (in VALUE="SUB"> must be in capitals
5. <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="LIST" VALUE="dummy">
1. "LIST" (in NAME="LIST") must be in capitals
2. "dummy" (in VALUE="dummy") needs to be substituted with the name of your list. So if the name of your list is 'joe' then the line would look like this "<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="LIST" VALUE="joe">"
6. <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="SELF" VALUE="http://valinor.eldar.org/~major/sub-unsub.html">
1. "SELF" (in NAME="SELF") must be capitalized
2. "VALUE" needs to be changed to the location where the HTML page is found on your web page. This is used in one of the errors. If the Sub-Unsub web pages is located at 'http://www.here.com/~you/maillist/signup.html', then this line would look like this "<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="SELF" VALUE="http://www.here.com/~you/maillist/signup.html">"
7. <INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Click here when done">
1. You can set "VALUE" to whatever you want. It just is the text that is displayed on the button, but the line does need to be there (or they can't execute the script)

Examples of its output

These are some examples of what this script returns to the user, according to what the user does.

• Using 'anduin.eldar.org', instead if valinor.eldar.org in the HTML form

Thank You I appreciate you subscribing to the try mailing list. The following command was sent to 'majordomo@valinor.eldar.org' subscribe dummy spunge@ripco.com Soon you should be receiving a confirmation of this action. If you have questions about this list, feel free to email the owner at dummy-owner@valinor.eldar.org Now that that is taken care of, want to go to Altavista?

NOTE: The last line is what changes if you used the "LINK" and "LINK_NAME" to "OK, it is time to go to LINK_NAME

• When they "Unsubscribe"

Bye Bye You have chosen to unsubscribe from the try mailing list. The following command was sent to 'majordomo@valinor.eldar.org' unsubscribe dummy spunge@ripco.com Soon you should be receiving a confirmation of this action. If you have questions about this list, feel free to email the owner at dummy-owner@valinor.eldar.org Time to go, I imagine you would like to go to Yahoo

NOTE: Again, the last line changes to "OK, it is time to go to LINK_NAME"

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3-28-98	Upgraded MajorCool to the most recent version (1.3.0)
3-21-98	valinor was down from about 11:45PM EST the 20th, and was back up around 7:45 the 21st
3-14-98	Added the ability to archive the mail archives to the web with MHonArc
2-15-98	valinor was down starting at about 2:15 pm EST for about 1 hour, 15 mins
2-8-98	eldar.org was off line starting at about 4:40 am for a little over 2 hours
2-7-98	eldar.org was off line from 12:37pm EST for an hour, because the power was out.
1-29-98	valinor was off line starting at about 7:30am EST and came back online at about 12:10pm EST (just over 4 hours)
1-26-98	eldar.org was off line again. This time it was for about 6 hours starting at about 12:30 AM EST
1-25-98	the eldar.org domain was off line for about 3 hours starting around 5:30 AM EST
1-19-98	At about 1:50 PM EDT, I changed the 'listname-request' alias for all the lists. If you notice a problem, let me know. The 'listname-request@valinor.eldar.org' now works how it typically is thought to work. Before it would just return a file explaining all of the commands, however, now you can send Majordomo commands (such as "who", "subscribe", and "unsubscribe" to listname-request@valinor.eldar.org and it will handle them just as if you had sent it to Majordomo@valinor.eldar.org.
1-8-98	valinor was down from about 1:30 PM EDT until about 8:00 PM (about 6.5 hours).

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This is the rather long document you should have received when I set up your mailing list. It is placed here for reference purposes. I have not included it all. If you would like to read it all, you can look at it here

Majordomo address:	Majordomo@valinor.eldar.org
Majordomo-Owner address:	Majordomo-Owner@valinor.eldar.org
List Name:	ListName
List posting address:	ListName@valinor.eldar.org

Your mailing list has been established. It is being served by an automated mailing list manager that responds to commands emailed to the "Majordomo address" listed above. This message has all the details of how to manage your list remotely using Majordomo. If you have any questions, refer them to the Majordomo-Owner address listed above.

As soon as possible, please issue a "newinfo" command for your list (see below) to create the file that someone will receive when they join or ask about your list.

You can issue a "who" command for your list to see who's already on your list. You may or may not already be subscribed to your own list.

Your mailing list is managed by an automated mailing list management program called Majordomo. Majordomo should free you from dealing with most of the administrivia usually associated with running mailing lists (adding users, dropping users, etc.).

To submit something to your list, you (or anybody else) should simply mail it to the list posting address shown at the top of this file. To be added to your list, a user simply sends a message to majordomo. There are two ways to do it:

address-- To: majordomo@valinor.eldar.org
message-- subscribe ListName

Majordomo understands several commands, and is not limited to a single command per message (it will process commands until reaching end-of-message or the command "end"). The command "help" will tell you about all the other commands. Actually, it won't tell you about all the other commands that Majordomo understands. There are several commands there for use by list owners such as yourself, which are not advertised to the public. All of these commands are password-protected on a list-by-list basis, but anyone with a valid list/password combination can invoke these commands. This is not exactly high-tech security, but it's more intended to keep annoyance to a minimum than to be foolproof.

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The "documented" commands which Majordomo understands and which are for everyone to use are:

subscribe <list> <address>
unsubscribe <list> <address;>
which <address>
who <list>
info <list>
index <list>
get <list>
lists
help
end

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and configure the parameters for the digest and majordomo subsystems.

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You aren't limited to approving only things to Majordomo requests approval for. You can approve any "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" request, regardless of whether Majordomo has requested this approval, with an "approve" command. Thus, you can subscribe or unsubscribe people from your list without them having to send anything to Majordomo; just send an appropriate "approve PASSWORD subscribe LIST ADDRESS" or "approve PASSWORD unsubscribe LIST ADDRESS" command off to Majordomo.

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If you decide that the message is OK and should not have been bounced, then you can cause Majordomo to post it anyway by sending the message back to the posting address (NOT to the Majordomo address) with a special "Approved: password" header. There are two ways to do this; the method you use depends on your having access to and the ability to run the approve script mentioned in the previous section. If you can run approve it is recommended that you do so, as this method is much less prone to errors and will reduce the time you spend moderating your list.

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If your list is moderated, (the moderate parameter in the config file is yes) then messages without an "Approved:" line are bounced, just as described above. To cause them to be posted to the list, you add a valid "Approved:" line and send them back, just as described above.

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If you want to restrict posting to any other set of people, you'll need to ask majordomo-owner for help. Unfortunately there's no way to tell majordomo about keeping another file of people who are allowed to post, so a file would have to be set in place "by hand". Some future release of majordomo may provide a way to do this automatically.

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index ListName

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A daily digest (or for some other time period) could be achieved by setting the max_length high enough so as not to be reached normally in a day, and then setting up a job to run daily that sends mail to Majordomo with the mkdigest command. On a unix system, give the commands "man crontab" and "man 5 crontab" at the shell for an explanation of such jobs, or ask majordomo-owner for help.

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