[hpsdr] List Admin duties

[Don Jackson AE5K]

Several have asked about what the discussion list administrator duties 
are.  I call the job "administrator" rather than "moderator" since this 
list very seldom has required moderation.  The "Mailman" software used 
to run this list is pretty neat and does most of the work.  Mailman s/w 
actually resides on our host machine at Dreamhost so it is not something 
you need to put on your own PC.

Most of you can probably recall the subscribing process.  You fill out a 
simple form with your email address, your ham call or full name, 
determine if you want daily digest instead of individual messages, and 
then click on "subscribe".  At this point, the mailman software turns 
around and sends you a request for confirmation via the email address 
you gave.  Once you confirm, then the list administrator gets an email 
notice to approve (or deny) your subscription.

The list administrator logs into the web based administration page and 
either approves or rejects the subscription.  Nearly all are approved 
and once they are, the admin gets an email notice that xxx at yyy.com has 
subscribed.  Likewise, with an unsubscribe action, another email notice 
is sent to the admin.

I go to one more level of protection to the list from spammers by 
setting a "mod" bit for those new subscribers without a legitimate ham 
call.  In this case, or in the rare case where a subscriber has abused 
the list and I set their "mod" bit, any messages posted by them comes to 
the admin first for approval (or rejection).  All this action is done 
via the web page control panel for the mailman software.  Very few 
non-hams ever try to send a message to the list and once they do, I 
usually clear their "mod" bit.

That is about 99% of the job.  The remaining 1% or so is tracking down 
an occasional problem someone has in receiving (or not receiving) list 
messages, or their posting message being rejected.  In the latter case, 
it is most often the case of trying to send a message to the list from a 
different email address from what they are subscribed by.

As you can see, whoever becomes administrator should be active in 
receiving and responding to requests and problems.  But, this task can 
be shared with one or more others -- in that case, all authorized 
administrators (often called moderators) would receive the new 
subscription request, etc.

The only other thing I can think of is that the administrator(s) will 
get some email sporadically with remnants of attempts by spammers. 
Often it will be in the form of undeliverable spam email that someone 
has faked the return address to hpsdr.org.  Once you get used to this, 
it is not much of a problem and most often occurs in spurts.  (One day I 
got over 300 such rejects!)

Volunteer needed yet to take over as this list administrator.  Email me 
directly (off-list) to "ae5k" at "hpsdr" dot "org".  I'll still remain 
in the background as the hosting provider and consultant if needed.

Don AE5K
HPSDR Discussion List Administrator