To moderate a MajorDomo mailing list, you are given an approval word which you must use when sending the message. For message which you author, this is simple. All you have to do is use the Approved: header and the approval word in the first line of the text of the message body. For those whose mailers permit it, you can alternatively insert the Approved: header among the actual headers of the message. The line should look like:
Approved: approval-word
The line must start in the leftmost column of the message. The approval word will not be transmitted to the list; if the approval word leaks out, then anyone can approve and post to the list, which defeats the purpose of moderation.
If someone else mails to the list, the message will not be transmitted to the list; it will be transmitted to you for approval. The message will appear, complete with headers, in the body of a message from the MajorDomo mechanism requesting your approval. The method of performing this approval varies depending on the mailer which you use.
pc Mailers
Most pc mailers will let you compose messages with bold, colors, attachments, etc., but these messages need to be sent in multimedia form. With moderated lists, you must send in plain text format, which precludes sending those colors and attachments.
For pc mailers (Eudora, Netscape, Outlook, Exchange), we suggest that you start a new message, addressed to your moderated list. Start the message body with the familiar approval line:
Approved: approval-word
Then, copy everything from the received message window into the line after the Approved: line in this new message window. By everything, we mean all the received message body, starting with the From line on down. The form of that line is:From sender@somewhere some-date
and is the first line of the headers. Note that there is a blank after the word From. Normally, you do not see this line when you read mail.
In Windows, the way to copy is to point to the first letter you want copied, press and hold the left-mouse button, and drag the mouse down the page to mark the entire area. Then, type Control-C to copy the data. Next point to the line after the Approved: line, and type Control-V to paste the copied part of the message into the window.
The reason for copying the original sender's headers into the new message is so that MajorDomo can reconstruct the original message to that it will appear to the recipients that the original sender sent the message, rather than you, as the moderator.
alpine
To forward an acceptable message to the list, use the f key to forward the message. Address the message to the list. Use RETURN to get into the message body and insert the approval line:
Approved: approval-word
Then, use Control-K to kill all the lines up to, but not including the From line of the original message. You will notice that there is an angle bracket (>) before the From word; do not worry about that.
Send off the message with Control-X, and the list recipients will receive the message, looking like it came from the original sender.