Every mailing list has a set of email addresses to which messages can be
sent. There's always one address for posting messages to the list, one
address to which bounces are sent, and addresses for processing email
commands. For a fictional mailing list called
mylist@example.com, you'd find these addresses:
mylist@example.com - this is the email address people should
use for new postings to the list.
mylist-join@example.com - by sending a message to this address,
a new member can request subscription to the list. Both the
Subject: header and body of such a message are
ignored. Note that mylist-subscribe@example.com is an alias for
the -join address.
mylist-leave@example.com - by sending a message to this address,
a member can request unsubscription from the list. As with the
-join address, the Subject: header and body of the
message is ignored. Note that mylist-unsubscribe@example.com is
an alias for the -leave address.
mylist-owner@example.com - This address reaches the list owner
and list moderators directly. This is the address you use if
you need to contact the person or people in charge.
mylist-request@example.com - This address reaches a mail robot
which processes email commands that can be used to set member
subscription options, as well as process other commands.
A list of members' email commands is provided in
Appendix A.
mylist-bounces@example.com - This address receives bounces from
members whose addresses have become either temporarily or
permanently inactive. The -bounces address is also a mail robot
that processes bounces and automatically disables or removes
members as configured in the bounce processing settings. Any
bounce messages that are either unrecognized, or do not seem to
contain member addresses, are forwarded to the list
administrators.
mylist-confirm@example.com - This address is another email
robot, which processes confirmation messages for subscription
and unsubscription requests.
There's also an -admin address which also reaches the list administrators,
but this address only exists for compatibility with older versions of
Mailman.
For changing options, we use the LISTNAME-request
address (for example, mylist-request@example.com).
Commands can appear in the subject line or the body of the message. Each
command should be on a separate line. If your mail program automatically
appends a signature to your messages, you may want to put the word
"end" (without the quotes) on a separate line after your other commands.
The end command tells Mailman not to process the email after that
point.
The most important command is probably the "help" command, since it
makes Mailman return a message full of useful information about the
email commands and directions to the web interface.
Quick references to the subscriber commands have been provided in
Appendices A and B. (These have been slightly
adapted from the output of the help command.)
