Re: auto reply to provide message for closed list

Hi Daniel,
 
Thanks for this. 
The list is owned by the University undergraduate office and I believe it's used for student enquiries and is to be replaced. Unfortunately, we have to provide where possible what the business user requires. I will forward your suggestion and at least I can now confirm that this is not an available option with Majordomo.
 
Regards,
Malcolm.

________________________________

From: Daniel Liston [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tue 11/08/2009 17:30
To: Malcolm Bodger
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: auto reply to provide message for closed list



Malcolm Bodger wrote:
> All I want to do is close a list and give anyone sending email to the
> list an automated message to say this list is now closed etc, etc. How
> can I do this?
> 
> Thanks,
> Malcolm.
>
> The University of Westminster is a charity and a company
> limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England.
> Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW.
>
>

First off, auto-reply is considered poor netiquette any more.
Too easy for spammer to take advantage of...

What would be easiest, is using the list to send notifications
that the list is shutting down. (A closed list means closed to
new subscribers, a restricted list is one where only members are
allowed to post.)  If necessary, add the moderator capability
for a month, and just collect addresses for a moderated reply
rather than auto reply once per week.  After four weeks, start
bouncing or discarding messages to the list's old address.  This
can be done by simply removing the list aliases from /etc/aliases
and/or replacing the right hand side with /dev/null or the local
user's email that will be managing the shut down.

If you are actually closing vs. shutting down, meaning you will
still have an active list that does not accept new subscribers,
simply restrict-post to your existing members or even a subset
of those users.

Dan Liston




-- 
The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by
guarantee.  Registration number: 977818 England.  Registered Office:
309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW, UK.