From: "Martin, Will"

> Are there any better ways to manage multiple lists?  I've got 10, and I'm
> spending stupid amounts of time adding/removing/updating users every time
> somebody joins/leaves/changes email address.  And even so, it feels like
> they're still out of date half the time.

It helps to have pointers to the Web interface for subscribers, so those who
don't need the hand-holding can manage their own.

My "top banner" message has two parts:
(1) an update on time-sensitive group activities, with due dates; and
(2) an automatically-rotating set of "list user help" notices and pointers,
using the DAYSEQ () calendar-modulus to determine which information is
displayed on a given day.

The "user help" notices include quite a few that address my "pet peeves" as
list owner--things like "don't retransmit your contribution just because you
didn't get a copy back in less than 4 minutes" (although that's not the
phrasing, just the point being made). A minor bit of periodic nagging is
just great for herding subscribers!

> At least half the problem is that I don't have a way to check which lists
> a given address is subscribed to short of checking each list manually.

I generally do all my management actions via the Web interface, EXCEPT for
checking subscriptions for an address. For that, I use the
q * for <user@domain>
command. The * wildcard does, in fact, work for list owners; it applies to
all lists you own. You can also use wildcards in the addresses, but since
the q[uery] command returns a full set of subscription settings, doing that
for the whole list might produce a very large response.

With the proper modifiers, though, the address wildcards can be very useful.
My lists have to accept outside contributions, and we defend against
spammers by requiring nonsubscriber submissions to be reviewed. This means
setting the REVIEW subscriber default, so I periodically need to review new
subscribers and upgrade to full access any that have been around long enough
to be trusted. The command I use for the review is
q * with MAIL REVIEW for *@*
which produces a thoroughly manageable listing, as long as I haven't been
neglecting reviews for too long.

Hal Keen


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