forwarding to a closed mailing list

Question asked by Ben Bednarz - 2/12/2024 at 3:08 PM

Unanswered

Hi,

In SmarterMail we have mailing list that is close; that is, only members can post to it. Then there is a separate mailbox that we would like to automatically forward to the mailing list. At first, I thought we could just make that mailing box a member of the mailing list. However, if we do that, then there is a feedback loop. A message gets sent to the mailbox, which forwards to the mailing list, but then a copy of that message is sent back to the mailbox (because it's a subscriber of the list), and then that message is again forwarded to the mailing list and so on. There is a loop that keeps sending messages back and forth causing the mailboxes to fill up infinitely.

Our second plan was to remove the mailbox as a subscriber but make it the moderator. This is because a moderator is always allowed to post to the list, even if it's not a subscriber. That works for just sending messages from the mailbox to the mailing list, but it does not work for forwarding messages. If I send a message to the mailbox that is automatically forwarded to the mailing list, I get this response:

"Sorry, you do not have permission to post to the xxx.acme.com mailing list."

I don't know why it won't allows a forwarded message but does allow just a regular message. Any suggestions?

The real goal is to find a way to have messages auto-forwarded from the mailbox to the mailing list without getting the feedback loop. I would be open to any other suggestions. Is there a way to make someone a subscriber to a list but they can't receive list messages, only send them?

Thanks,

Ben

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Douglas Foster Replied

2/12/2024 at 4:53 PM

If you want every member of both lists to receive every message, then you only need one list.

Ben Bednarz Replied

2/12/2024 at 5:23 PM

I think you misunderstand. There is only one list. The other address is a mailbox. Think of it this way:

mailbox: WriteToMe@xxx.com

mail list: PrivateGroup@xxx.com

Someone sends an email to mailbox WriteToMe@xxx.com, say from IAmAnOutside@gmail.com. We want that email to be forwarded from WriteToMe to the mailing list PrivateGroup. That is the goal.

Why would we do this? Suppose you want to make it so that the public can send messages to PrivateGroup but can't receive message from PrivateGroup. Plus, you would rather not publicize the address PrivateGroup@xxx.com. Or maybe you want to put extra spam filters on the mailox WriteToMe.

Douglas Foster Replied

2/12/2024 at 5:56 PM

Perhaps you need to use the "allowed posters" feature

These names are not part of list but are allowed to send to the list.

Ben Bednarz Replied

2/12/2024 at 10:22 PM

Allowed Posters would seem like the right idea, but it doesn't seem to work. Going back to my earlier example, I test making WriteToMe@xxx.com as an allowed poster for the list PrivateGroup@xxx.com. I then sent an email from Gmail to WriteToMe. It was forwarded to PrivateGroup but was not posted. Instead, the same error was returned:

"Sorry, you do not have permission to post to the PrivateGroup@xxx.com mailing list."

WriteToMe is purposefully still not a subscriber of PrivateGroup, just a poster. I don't see anything in the online help why that would be a problem. And yet, it doesn't work.

Maybe the problem is that the message forwarded to PrivateGroup doesn't say it's from WriteToMe, but rather it says it's from the original Gmail account. That, of course, is not a poster since we won't usually know who is write to WriteToMe. Any thoughts on that?

Douglas Foster Replied

2/13/2024 at 4:53 AM

Ahh. So it is seeing the originator as the poster rather than the forwarding source. A feature request might be the long term solution.

Try this:

Mailbox1 forwards to SourceRewrite@domain, which is a mailing list with one subscriber, your target list. The SourceRewrite list is configured to use the list address as the From address and the Poster Address as Reply-To. This gets the address rewritten, and SourceRewrite becomes the allowed poster for the target list.

The problem here is that SourceRewrite needs to allow all posters for the scheme to work, but you don't want it accessible to the world. Fixing that problem will require an incoming gateway that blocks external attempts to access the SourceRewrite list directly.

Douglas Foster Replied

2/13/2024 at 6:21 AM

But I think the operational problems will be even worse than the technical obstacles. I assume that at least some of these incoming messages will require a response. This creates a management nightmare of ensuring that messages are addressed by only one person, but that all messages actually get addressed. All of which suggests that you need an Issue Tracking system.

For what its worth. Good luck.

Ben Bednarz Replied

2/13/2024 at 11:24 AM

I don't know that it's the return address that is causing the problem. That's just a guess.

The poster I put in is not a subscriber to the list and that might not be allowed, so that could be the problem. Here is what the online help says:

"they can use the Posters section to specify additional list subscribers who can post messages to the list -- these special subscribers are considered "Whitelisted" as they've been given special permission to post messages, in addition to, say, Moderators Only."

This makes it sound like Posters have to be subscribers. If that's the case, then using posters is never going to work.

Ben Bednarz Replied

2/13/2024 at 11:54 AM

I have a new plan. It's not quite what we wanted, but it should be good enough until someone comes up with a better plan.

The problem has been how to forward a message from the mailbox (WriteToMe@xxx.com) to the list group (PrivateGroup@xxx.com). Using Posters seemed like a good idea, but it didn't work, apparently because the forwarded email is being identified by its original address, not the WritetoMe address. My new plan is to send a notification, rather than the email itself.

I setup an even in the mailbox settings for WriteToMe. The event triggers when any email is received and sends a message to teh list PrivateGroup with a notice that a message has been received. That message does get through because it just has the WritetoMe address as its return address.

Not perfect, but it works. Now if anyone can solve our original problem, I'm all ears.

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