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Create and Modify a Sympa List

Sympa lists are created using a department or club account. Once created, additional owners can be assigned.

Create a list

  1. Log in to the My Cal Poly Portal > My Apps Email Distribution Lists using a department or club account.

  2. Click the Create List button.

  3. Select the list type.

    1. Create a list using a template. 

      1. Select the type of list to be created.

      2. Enter list description information and click Submit your creation request.

    2. Copy an existing list.

      1. Select the list to be copied.

      2. Enter a new list name and click Copy list configuration.

      3. This option only copies the list configuration. List membership will not be copied to the new list.

The list can be modified after creation. The list is not available to use until approved by the listmaster and uploaded to the Cal Poly directory, which can take up to 48 hours.

Modify a list

After the list has been created, modifications can be made to the configuration.

Sympa Options

Location on List Home Menu





Sympa Options

Location on List Home Menu





List Visibility

List Configuration > Modify list subject and visibility > Visibility of the list

Public: Intranet

The list is visible in the Cal Poly and Office 365 directory.



Private: Conceal

The list is not visible in the Cal Poly or Office 365 directory.

Owners or Moderators

List Configuration > Modify owners and moderators > Owner or Moderator

Owners manage the list; multiple owners can be added.

Privileged owners can designate other owners and have more access rights than normal owners.

Moderators are responsible for approving or rejecting messages for distribution. 

Manage Subscribers

View or Manage Subscribers > Add/delete subscribers

Add subscribers: Cal Poly addresses must be in the format username@calpoly.edu. List subscribers can include other Sympa lists.

Multiple add: A list of email address can be copied/pasted into the list. Verify no extra characters at the end of the data.

Delete subscribers

The quiet option can be checked to not send an email regarding the deletion.

Viewing Log Files

Admin menu > Logs > View

The log file records all operations that have been performed on the list and can assist in troubleshooting list issues. 



 

List names

The following restrictions are in place when naming a list.

  • Do not include @calpoly.edu in the list creation process.

  • Do not use any spaces, underscores, accents, or special characters.

  • Do not insert a period “.” in the listname. If a separator is needed in the listname, hyphens must be used.

  • The list name must be lowercase. Letters, numbers and hyphens can be included in the name. 

  • Do not use any Sympa reserved words in the listname:

    • -request

    • -editor

    • -owner

    • -subscribe

    • -unsubscribe

List send options

The Send parameter specifies who can send email to the Sympa list. To make changes to the Send parameter:

  1. Log in to the My Cal Poly PortalMy Apps Email Distribution Lists using a department or club account.

  2. Click on My Lists and select the list to be modified.

  3. On the List Home page, under List Configuration, select Change who can post to this list.

  4. For Who can Send messages, click the drop-down arrow to select another Send option.

  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Update to save the change.

Send Scenarios

Option

Key

Roles

Definition

Option

Key

Roles

Definition

Closed

closed

Moderator: no
Owner: no
Subscriber: no
Non-subscriber: no

No one may send to the list; all messages are rejected.  Can be set if you need to temporarily shut off list traffic due to a rampant virus or aggressive spammer.

Moderated

editorkey

Moderator: yes
Owner: yes, moderator approved
Subscriber: yes, moderator approved
Non-subscriber: yes, moderator approved

Anyone may send to the list, and their messages get flagged for moderation.  List moderators may send straight to the list.

Moderated, even for moderators

editorkeyonly

Moderator: yes, moderator approved
Owner: yes, moderator approved
Subscriber: yes, moderator approved
Non-subscriber: yes, moderator approved

Anyone may send to the list, and their messages get flagged for moderation.  This even applies to moderators.

Moderated, need authentication from editor

editorkeyonlyauth

Moderator: yes, verified & moderator approved
Owner: yes, moderator approved
Subscriber: yes, moderator approved
Non-subscriber: yes, moderator approved

Anyone may send to the list, and their messages get flagged for moderation.  List moderators, however, are sent back a confirmation request when they send messages to the list, asking them to confirm the message before it gets sent out.

Restricted to local domain

intranet

calpoly.edu only

Anyone whose address ends in calpoly.edu may send messages to the list.

Restricted to local domain and subscribers

intranetorprivate

calpoly.edu & subscribers

Anyone whose address ends in calpoly.edu or anyone who's subscribed to the list may send messages.  This can be useful for when you want a more open list without opening it up too widely for spammers.

Newsletter, restricted to moderators and owners

newsletter

Moderator: yes
Owner: yes
Subscriber: no
Non-subscriber: no

Only list owners or moderators may send messages to the list. This is most useful for announcement-style lists, where you want a select group to be able to broadcast messages out to all the list members, without anyone else being able to contact the list.

Newsletter, restriced to moderators after confirmation

newsletterkeyonly

Moderator: yes, verified
Owner: yes, verified
Subscriber: no
Non-subscriber: no

Similar to the newsletter send scenario, this one only allows owners or moderators to address the list, and it sends them back a confirmation message asking them to make sure they want to send that message to the list.  It also prevents people from being able to falsify messages to the list by setting their mail client up to claim to be one of the moderators.

Restricted to subscribers

private

Moderator: yes
Owner: yes
Subscriber: yes
Non-subscriber: no

Only list owners, moderators, and subscribers may send messages to the list. This is the standard default for non-public lists as it prevents spammers from sending messages out to the list.

Restricted to subscribers with previous md5 authentiation

private_smime

Moderator: yes, RD5 required
Owner: yes, RD5 required
Subscriber: yes, RD5 required
Non-subscriber: no

Only list owners, moderators, and subscribers may send to the list, and they all require valid S/MIME signatures. S/MIME signatures are specialized attachments that verify, through the use of a trusted third party, the sender's identity as being authentic and the message as being unaltered. This is the most secure setting for your list, but all the users on the list must have valid S/MIME signatures

Moderated, restricted to subscribers

privateandeditorkey

Moderator: yes
Owner: no
Subscriber: yes, moderator approved
Non-subscriber: no

Only subscribers and moderators may send messages to the list.  The subscribers are moderated and the moderators go straight through.  Similar to the editorkey option, but only allowing subscribers to submit messages for approval rather than anyone

Moderated, for non subscribers sending multipart messages

privateandnomultipartoreditorkey

Moderator: yes, attachments moderated
Owner: no
Subscriber: yes, attachments moderated
Non-subscriber: no

Moderators can send straight through to the list, as can subscribers.  But messages with attachments will be flagged for approval by a moderator.

Restricted to subscribers and checked smime signature

privatekey

Moderator: no
Owner: no
Subscriber: yes, verified
Non-subscriber: no

Only subscribers may send to the list, and they will need to confirm every message by replying to a confirmation message Sympa sends them before the message will go through to the list.

Moderated, for subscribers and even moderators themself

privatekeyandeditorkeyonly

Moderator: yes, verified
Owner: no
Subscriber: yes, verified & moderator approved
Non-subscriber: no

Only subscribers and moderators may send to the list. They'll both be asked to confirm their messages, and subscribers' messages will get put into the moderation queue; moderators' messages will go straight out.

Private, moderated for non subscribers

privateoreditorkey

Moderator: yes
Owner: yes, moderator approved
Subscriber: yes
Non-subscriber: yes, moderator approved

Subscribers and moderators may send messages straight out to the list. Non-subscribers' messages will be flagged for moderation. This can be useful for allowing users who are not subscribers to submit messages while still letting the moderators keep spam away from the list's population.

Private, confirmation for non subsribers

privateorpublickey

Moderator: yes
Owner: yes, verified
Subscriber: yes
Non-subscriber: yes, verified

Subscribers may send messages to the list, as may users whose S/MIME signatures can be verified.  Everyone else must confirm their messages by replying to a confirmation message Sympa sends them before the message gets resent on to the list. This is useful for reducing spam without increasing the list moderators' workload.

Public list

public

Moderator: yes
Owner: yes
Subscriber: yes
Non-subscriber: yes

Anybody can send to the list.  This setting allows anyone with an external email delivery address (EDA) the ability to send to the list.

Public list, Bcc rejected (anti-spam)

public_nobcc

Moderator: yes, no BCC
Owner: yes, no BCC
Subscriber: yes, no BCC
Non-subscriber: yes, no BCC

Anyone may send to the list, but messages with Bcc (blind carbon copy) recipients are rejected.

Anyone no authentication if DKIM signature is OK

publickey

Moderator: yes, verified
Owner: yes, verified
Subscriber: yes, verified
Non-subscriber: yes, verified

Anyone may send to the list, provided they approve their own message by appropriately replying to the confirmation message Sympa sends them.

Public list multipart/mixed messages are forwarded to moderator

publicnoattachment

Moderator: yes, attachments moderated
Owner: yes, attachments moderated
Subscriber: yes, attachments moderated
Non-subscriber: yes, attachments moderated

Anyone may send to the list.  Messages with attachments are flagged for moderation.

Public list multipart messages are rejected

publicnomultipart

Moderator: yes, no attachments
Owner: yes, no attachments
Subscriber: yes, no attachments
Non-subscriber: yes, no attachments

Anyone may send to the list.  Messages with attachments are rejected.




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