From: "Michael H. Warfield" <mhw@wittsend.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 07:26:01 -0800 (PST)
To: ichudov@algebra.com
Subject: Re: How to make majordomo request confirmations of subscriptions?
Message-ID: <199702131526.HAA03585@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


ichudov@algebra.com enscribed thusly:

> Hi All,

> I would like to set up my majordomo to request subscription
> confirmations from users, by sending them a cookie. Looking at the
> majordomo config files, I have not found such option.

	Majordomo 1.94 and above...

	subscribe_policy = open+confirm

	Last I looked, majordomo does not have subscription expirations
or periodic confirmations.  A couple of months ago someone else on a large
mailing list I help run suggested a package that would periodically mail
a bounce probe.  The probe would have explicit instructions to do NOTHING
if you wanted to remain on the list, just ignore the message.  If the
message came back, due to an E-Mail bounce, vacation program, or someone
who decided they didn't want to remain on the list after all, you toasted
them off.  Sort of an inverse confirmation message.  I lost the message
about the package before I could find it.  It sounds like a great compliment
to majordomo.  Maybe should be another feature for majordomo?  Anyone who
has heard of this add-on, let me know.  I'm still looking for it.

> Ideally I would like to have a system that a) requires the
> new users confirm new subscriptions and b) once in a while
> as users to confirm their existing subscriptions.

	The instruction which go back with the job results and the confirmation
need to be beefed up.  I've had a lot of subscribers get "confused" when
their STUPID windows mailer breaks their "auth" message into two lines and
majordomo refuses to recognize it.  Forwarding the confirmation message
back or "replying" to it tend to screw up big time, so I modified the message
in my version to instruct users to "create a new message with this line as
the only line in the body".  It's cut down on the screwed up subscriptions
immensely.

	Majordomo also needs to be enhanced a bit to flush out bits and pieces
of floatsam in the E-Mail address that are not valid E-Mail addresses...
Example:  "Michael H. Warfield" <mhw@wittsend.com> would result in messages
going back to Michael, H., and Warfield, as well as mhw@wittsend.com.  I'm
planning on cleaning out any whitespace separated tokens which do not
contain an embedded "@" followed by a least one "." and ending with an alpha
or a ".".  That's on my to-do list for this week or next...  Along with
upgrading to 1.94.1.

> Is there any way to do it?

> Thank you.

> 	- Igor.
> 

-- 
 Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw@WittsEnd.com
  (The Mad Wizard)      |  (770) 925-8248   |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
  NIC whois:  MHW9      |  An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471    |  possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!