Send Keyword

Send= Public[,Confirm][,Non-Member]
Send= Private[,Confirm]
Send= Editor[,Hold][,Confirm[,Non-Member | All]][,Semi-Moderated][,NoMIME]
Send= other-access-level[,Confirm]

This keyword defines the categories of users who can send mail to the list. This option can be used to place the list under the control of an editor. The default value is "Public". Other access-levels for use with "Send=" would include "Private", "Editor", "Owner", etc. A literal Internet email address may also be used in place of the access-level, for example:

• Send= joe@example.com

Using a literal address is one way to ensure that only an authorized person can post to the list, for instance, if the list is an "announce-only" list rather than a discussion list.

Requiring Confirmation

When the "Confirm" option is enabled, the sender is required to confirm the posting. When LISTSERV receives mail for the list, it sends an email to the sender requesting a confirmation. The confirmation can be accomplished by clicking on the confirmation URL provided in the email.

List owners can require that non-subscribers actively confirm their messages to the list, while allowing subscribers to post without confirmation. This can dramatically cut down on spam for lists accepting postings from non-subscribers. When "Send= Public,Confirm" is used, the "Non-Member" setting can be specified to limit the confirmation requirements to non-members. When "Send=Editor,Confirm" is used, the "Non-Member" setting can be specified to limit the confirmations to non-members and to require editors to confirm their own posts (see below).

The intent is to help list owners cut down spam on public discussion lists, without inconveniencing normal list subscribers. For public lists, it works like "Send= Public,Confirm" if you are not a member of the list, otherwise it works as "Send= Public" (no confirmation required from subscribed users). List owners and editors are considered to be members of the list even if they are not subscribed to it and are thus not subjected to the confirmation requirement.

Moderated/Edited Lists

When the list is controlled by an editor "Send= Editor", any piece of mail sent to the list is forwarded to the editor, who is the only person (with the list owner) able to actually post to the list. The network address of the editor is defined by the "Editor=" keyword. List moderation can also be shared among several addresses using the "Moderator=" keyword, but at least one "Editor=" must be specified.

Hold and Confirm

When the "Hold" option is enabled "Send= Editor,Hold", the moderators may approve postings using the "OK" mechanism or the web-based moderation interface rather than forwarding the posts back to the list.

When the "Confirm" option is enabled (for example, "Send= Editor,Confirm"), mail sent by any editor or moderator requires confirmation by that editor or moderator. This is to prevent a user from forging mail to the list under an editor's or moderator's return address. The confirmation request is validated with the "OK" mechanism. This does not mean that double validation is required when an editor approves other people's postings, but only that the editor's own postings to the list and any reposts done on behalf of others require a confirmation.

It is also possible to set a list to:

• Send= Editor,Hold,Confirm

This allows you to "OK" both subscriber submissions and editor/moderator approvals, as described above.

"Non-Member" and "All" qualifiers to "Confirm"

By default, "Send= Editor,Confirm" only requires editors to confirm their own postings, and all other senders' messages are forwarded to the editor or moderators for approval. As with "Send= Public", it may be desirable to force non-members to confirm their postings before they are forwarded to the editor or moderators, saving them from having to wade through spam to find the valid posts. To activate this feature, you would set:

• Send= Editor,Confirm,Non-Member

or

• Send= Editor,Hold,Confirm,Non-Member

For edited lists, the behavior is similar to public lists – non-members must confirm their own postings before they are submitted to the editor for approval, whereas members' postings go directly to the editor for approval without the intermediary step. It should be noted that ",Confirm" still activates the anti-spoofing feature that already existed, which requires that the editor must approve his own postings.

On an edited list, if it is desired for all posters to confirm their own postings regardless of their subscription status, substitute "All" for "Non-Member":

• Send= Editor,Confirm,All

or

• Send= Editor,Hold,Confirm,All

This forces all posters to validate their own postings before they are submitted to the editor for final approval.

Important: "Non-Member" or "All" must always be specified in conjunction with "Confirm". For instance, setting "Send= Public,Non-Member" or "Send= Editor,All" will not activate the feature.

Semi-Moderated

When the "Semi-Moderated" option is enabled ("Send= Editor,Semi-Moderated"), mail sent to the list will be treated in one of two different ways, depending on the contents of its "Subject" field. If the subject starts with "Urgent:" (case-independent), the list is treated as a non-moderated one, which means that the message will be immediately distributed provided that the sender matches the access-level description. If the subject does not start with "Urgent:", the message is forwarded to the primary list editor (unless it came from someone defined as an editor). A "Subject" field beginning with "Re: Urgent:" is treated identically so that replies to urgent messages are by default considered urgent.

An example:

• Send= Editor,Semi-Moderated
• Editor= NATHAN@EXAMPLE.COM,ERIC@EXAMPLE.COM

In this example, a message sent to the list would be:

• Processed, if the sender is a subscriber and used the "Urgent:" subject.
• Forwarded to the moderator if the sender didn't use the "Urgent:" subject or isn't a subscriber.

Note that in the above example, messages don't get discarded if the sender isn't subscribed.

Moderation "OK" requests and MIME attachment display

When a message coming in to a moderated list contains MIME attachments, the moderation request sent by LISTSERV is a multipart message which contains two attachments: a copy of the first text/plain part (if one exists in the message) for the purpose of quick screening and the full MIME message to be approved. The following restrictions apply:

• This is only done for MIME messages (even simple single-part ones, but they must have MIME headers).
• The text part in question is sent pretty much as is, that is, as an extra text/plain part in the message, with all the options and encoding supplied in the original message.

It is important to understand that only the first text/plain part is extracted in this fashion. The goal was to make it easier to approve or reject simple text messages. The entire message is available at an extra click.

Where security is a concern, it is important to review the entire original message and not just the plain text part. There could be an objectionable GIF or another text part or a text/html part not matching the contents of the text/plain part. This is why you are given the entire original message.

List owners using certain email clients (for example Pine, which handles attachments in a secondary viewing area) may find the new format difficult to use. If preferred, the approval message can be made to show the raw MIME code by specifying "NOMIME" in the "Send=" list header keyword, for instance:

• Send= Editor,Hold,NoMIME

When set, NOMIME applies to all moderated messages, even if "Send=" is not "Editor" (for example, if the sender is set to "REVIEW").

LISTSERV will force ",Hold" if it is not specified with "Send= Editor" for multi-part messages in order to generate an approval request that can display the multi-part message correctly.