[fitswcs]Majordomo==>Mailman change for <fitswcs> exploder

[Don Wells]

Dear <fitswcs> subscribers,

NRAO-Charlottesville has operated a large number of email exploders
using 'Majordomo' software for about five years.  Several months ago
the computer group decided to change to 'Mailman' software (sse
http://www.list.org/ ).  The various NRAO-Charlottesville mailing
lists have been moved one by one from Majordomo to Mailman in recent
weeks. My mailing lists (exploders) were changed earlier this week.
<fitswcs> was one of these.

Although the computer group attempted to initialize the various
Mailman configuration parameters to reproduce the configurations used
with Majordomo, the transformation wasn't perfect. Some of the default
settings for <fitswcs> turned out to be different.

In particular, the Majordomo configuration for <fitswcs> allowed
subscribers to post freely (unmoderated), but the initial Mailman
configuration for <fitswcs> specified full moderation.  I became aware
of this configuration error today. I have made changes. The new
settings are:

Must posts be approved by an administrator?                        NO
Restrict posting privilege to list members? (member_posting_only)  YES
Send mail to poster when their posting is held for approval?       NO
Who can view subscription list?                                 LIST MEMBERS

Note that if you post to <fitswcs> with a From-line address which does
not match an address in the mailing list *exactly*, the <Mailman>
software *may* not recognize you as a subscriber, in which case it
will forward the traffic to me for approval.  This was definitely true
of the old Majordomo software, but we hope that the new Mailman
software is somewhat more intelligent about recognizing DNS domaims.

I have not yet changed the <fitswcs> welcome message --- it still
tells how to command the Majordomo software via email.  I will fix
this soon.

				 -=-

Mailman is controlled through a Web interface (Majordomo was
controlled theough email messages).  Users can change their addresses
and configuration settings themselves via the Web page, but they need
to have a password.

Mailman has a threaded Web page interface to the traffic archive.  The
Majordomo traffic archive for <fitswcs> was copied to Mailman.

				 -=-

I have not yet reviewed the configurations for <fitsbits>, <iaufwg>,
<wfc>, etc. in detail; it will be no surprise if they too have
configuration problems. Please inform me of any problems with any of
these mailing lists.

Regards,
Don    ['owner' of <fitswcs>, current Chair of IAU-FWG]
-- 
  Donald C. Wells      Scientist - GBT Project        dwells at nrao.edu
                    http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~dwells
  National Radio Astronomy Observatory                +1-434-296-0277
  520 Edgemont Road,   Charlottesville, Virginia       22903-2475 USA
       (DCW is often in Green Bank, West Virginia, at +1-304-456-2146)