Re: [cobalt-developers] Large mailings

["Steve Werby" <steve-lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Matthew Nuzum" <cobalt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have a customer who has a large opt-in mailing list.  She has
> thousands of e-mail addresses she's received from people at trade shows,
> and she wants to send them messages.

OK, so the customer needs a broadcast mailing list.

> I know that if you hack the config files for majordomo, you can prevent
> lists members from using the list, limiting it to a single person doing
> the mailing.

Well, it's not really a hack.  That makes it sound like majordomo isn't
really designed to allow for that behavior, which it definitely is.  You'll
probably want to set "restrict_post = specificuser@xxxxxxxxxx" (can also
point to a file containing multiple email addresses) to limit who can post
to the list.  Of course, it's based on the From: header which is *easily*
forged.  So you'll probably want to set the list up as a moderated list
"moderate = yes" and setup the list owner as the moderator.  That will
either add an extra step by forcing all messages to be approved with a
moderator header or sent with the moderator header in the first place.  This
will ensure no one else, except someone knowing the moderator password, will
be able to post to the list.

> However, is majordomo the best tool for this job, or
> should I look into something else?

It depends.   If it's a few thousand recipients and messages are only going
to be sent out once a day it's probably fine.  If dozens of messages per day
are going to be sent to many thousands of recipients performance will
probably be less than ideal.  If your customer wants to personalize each
email by including their name in it a mailing list is out period - you'd
need a specialized bulk mailing program, not a mailing list.

> Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I hope that helps some.  If you provide more detail I may be able to help
more.  FYI, this discussion probaby is better suited for cobalt-users.

--
Steve Werby
President, Befriend Internet Services LLC
http://www.befriend.com/