Mailing List Essentials - Plesk for Windows with Mail Enable

 

This article discusses mailing list features for hosting servers with MailEnable mail server product ONLY. 

 

MAILING LIST CREATION

 

SUBSCRIPTIONS 

Subscriptions (list recipients) can be modified in two manners: 

SUBSCRIPTION MODE: 

Defines options for allowing/disallowing subscriptions via email.  If you allow subscrptions via email, then

 

By default, Plesk/MailEnable selects the option: Anyone can subscribe to this list via email. To CHANGE this from this default, you need to submit a support request asking for the list SUBSCRIPTION MODE to be changed to your preferred option. The available options are: 

Anyone can subscribe to this list via email
Allows people to subscribe to the list by sending the word “subscribe” as the subject of an email to the list. 

E-mail subscriptions are not permitted for this list
Stops people from subscribing to the list. List members can only be added through Plesk.

E-mail subscriptions need to be confirmed
Enforces a subscription confirmation code to be returned to the list for successful subscription. When this option is enabled a subscription code will be sent out after a message has been sent to list with “SUBSCRIBE” in the subject field of the message. The user then needs to reply to list using the confirmation code that was sent out to him/her to successfully subscribe to the list.

 

MODERATION:

There are two types of core functions for a MailEnable based mailing list: moderated or unmoderated. 

 

UNMODERATED:

By default, all lists are created as UNMODERATED.  An unmoderated list means that any email sent to the list by AUTHORIZED POSTERS will be automatically distributed to all mailing list subscribers. 

 

 

MODERATED:

When a list is moderated, all the emails that are posted are sent to the moderator (listed in plesk as the mailing list administrator).  The moderator then reads the email, and if he/she wants it to go to the list, they have to FORWARD it to the list email address.  Emails coming from the moderator's email address AND ONLY EMAILS coming from the the moderators email address will be distributed to all mailing list subscribers. 

 

 

AUTHORIZED POSTERS:

Specifies who is allowed to post to the list, (i.e., send an email to the list).  By default, Plesk/MailEnable selects the option: Anyone can post to this list. To CHANGE this from this default, you need to submit a support request asking for the list AUTHORIZED POSTERS to be changed to your preferred option. The available options are: 

Anyone can post to this list
Anyone is allowed to send a message to the list.

Only subscribers can post to this list
The list will only accept posts from email addresses that exist in the list.

Posting to this list requires a password
Password protects the list. To send an email to a password protected list, users need to enclose the password in square brackets and colons e.g. [: and :] .  In order to password protect your mailing list, please submit a ticket with our support department, provide them the mailing list and password you would like applied to the mailing list.  Once the password for the mailing list has been applied, the list will only accept messages that has the password at the start of the subject line.  The password for the mailing list must appear at the start of the subject and be contained within [: and :] delimiters.

 

Example: If I applied a list password of "MyPassword77" to my mailing list, when I sent an email to it, the subject of my email would need to look like this:

[:MyPassword77:] Hello, this is my first list message!

 

REPLY OPTIONS

These options determine who should receive responses when a recipient replies to a post. Basically, this changes the "reply to" property in a message sent via the list... so when the recipient clicks "REPLY", this specifies whether the recipient list of their reply is auto-populated with the list address, the poster's address (the poster of the mail they are replying to) or the moderator's address.  

 

An example helps to clarify this:  Bob posts to the list.  Mary reads it and clicks reply in her email software... the recipient address of her reply is auto-populated with this reply to address.... do you want it to be the list address, the poster's address (Bob, in our example) or the moderator's address.  

 

By default, Plesk/MailEnable selects the option: Subscribers reply to the list. To CHANGE this from this default, you need to submit a support request asking for the list REPLY OPTIONS to be changed to your preferred option.  The available options are:

Subscribers reply to the list
The reply to address is set to the list address, so when users reply to a message that gets sent from the list, their email gets sent to the list.

Subscribers reply to the posters address
The reply to address is set to the email address of the sender, so when users reply to a message sent from the list, their email is sent to the person who made the original post.

Subscribers reply to the moderators address
The reply to address is set to the moderators email address, so when users reply to a message sent from the list, their email is sent to the moderator.

 

LIST SUBJECT PREFIX

Some users which to have a prefix added to the subject of all emails sent via the list.   This allows subscribers to filter the messages that are dispatched to them via the list server. These options can control the prefix that is appended to the subject of messages that are dispatched to list subscribers.  By default, Plesk/MailEnable selects the option: Subject is not altered. To CHANGE this from this default, you need to submit a support request asking for the list LIST SUBJECT PREFIX to be changed to your preferred option. The available options are: 

Subject is prefixed with the name of the list
The list name, enclosed in square brackets [ and ] is added to the start of the subject line of emails posted to the list.

Subject is not altered
Subject is not altered for any messages posted to the list.

Subject should have the following prefix
Specified text is added to the start of the subject line for all emails posted to the list. 

 

HEADERS & FOOTERS

A header and/or a footer can be automatically appended to any email.  A good use for a header or footer is putting in a message like this:

 

You are receiving this message because you subscribed to the mailing list (listname here). If you do NOT wish to receive this email, DO NOT mark this as spam. Instead, unsubscribe using the following steps (and provide unsubscribe instrutions).