:hide-toc: ****************** Run a mailing list ****************** Overview ======== Having a problem with mailing lists? See the troubleshooting section below. Your team can have its own mailing list, hosted and managed by Launchpad. Team mailing lists are useful because they: * use team memberships to control mailing list permissions: many projects use Launchpad teams to group their users and developers into convenient teams * accept posts from any email address registered in a subscriber's Launchpad profile * allow team members to manage all their Launchpad list subscriptions in one place * greatly simplify administration: manage multiple lists through one interface * automatically archive posts: copies are archived on Launchpad itself and at `mail-archive.com `_, a popular long-term list archive site. For the technically minded, Launchpad mailing lists are managed by `GNU Mailman `_, although we have simplified the web interface, allowing you to easily administer multiple lists through Launchpad. Taking part in mailing lists ============================ Launchpad mailing lists are team-oriented: every team may have one mailing list and every mailing list is associated with exactly one team. As a team member, you can subscribe to that team's mailing list but it is optional: joining a team does not automatically subscribe you to its mailing list. Subscribing ----------- **Step 1:** Visit the `Edit emails page `_ in your profile. **Step 2:** Scroll to the bottom of the page, where you'll see all the mailing lists you can join. .. figure:: /images/mailing-list-subs.png Mailing list subscriptions **Step 3:** Use the drop-down, beside your chosen to list, to select the email address where you want to receive the emails. **Step 4:** Click `Update Subscriptions`. You don't need to confirm your subscription as you've already confirmed your email addresses and you're logged into Launchpad. As soon as your subscription is live, Launchpad will send you a welcome email, which may include a custom message from the team's owners. Using the list -------------- Let's say you've joined the launchpad-doc team's mailing list. To send email to the list, you'd use the address `launchpad-doc@lists.launchpad.net`. You can send it from any address that's registered in your Launchpad profile. However, Launchpad will only send email to the address you specified when subscribing to the list. After a few minutes, depending on network latencies, you should receive your message in your inbox. It'll also appear in the list's archive. It's just the same for all other lists: take the name of the team and append it to `@lists.launchpad.net`. .. note:: * Postings by people who are not Launchpad members are immediately discarded. * Postings by Launchpad members who are not team members are held for approval by the team owner. * All Launchpad mailing list messages are publicly archived and the **archives are open to everyone**, not just Launchpad or team members. If you have any issues with information available in the archives, you should contact the `Launchpad administrators `_. However, our general policy is **never to remove archive messages or information contained therein**. If you use Gmail ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you use Gmail and don't see your own posts arrive in your inbox, it is probably because of `this issue `_. Unfortunately, this not something that we can fix. Instead, check the list's archive to confirm your message has been accepted. Unsubscribing and changing your subscription -------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from a list, or change the email address where you receive a particular list's mails, visit your Edit emails page. There, you can select: * another address that's already registered in your profile * the `Don't subscribe` option to unsubscribe * the `Preferred address` option for Launchpad to automatically track your preferred email address Establishing a list for your team ================================= The Launchpad team reviews all new requests for mailing lists. This is to help reduce misuse of the Launchpad's list hosting. You can request a mailing list for your team by clicking `Configure mailing list` on the team's overview page. We handle new mailing list application requests several times a day and will enable your mailing list as soon as possible. Once we've approved your mailing list, you'll see a `Configure mailing list` on your team's overview page. Privacy ------- Mailing list archive privacy is inherited from team privacy, which must be established before the mailing list is requested. Once a mailing list is requested, the team's privacy cannot be changed. Customizing your team's welcome message --------------------------------------- You can specify a custom message to be included in the welcome message that Launchpad sends to new list subscribers. Click `Configure mailing list` on your team's overview page to enter your custom message. .. note:: This feature is not currently implemented. Size limit ---------- Messages posted to your mailing list have a maximum size limit of 40KB. Messages larger than this cannot be posted to your mailing list. `Contact us `_ if that is a problem for you. Renaming your team ------------------ When a team has a mailing list, it cannot be renamed. However, you can take the following steps to rename your team: * Deactivate your team's mailing list. You can do this on the `Configure mailing list` page. It will take a few minutes for this deactivation request to complete. * `Open a question `_ to have a Launchpad administrator purge your mailing list. This erases all traces of your old mailing list and allows you to rename your team. * Once that question is answered, you can rename your team. * Request a new mailing list for your newly renamed team. * When your mailing list is approved and activated, all your old subscriptions will be restored. If you want to migrate the old mailing list archives to the new team, re-open the original question you submitted above, providing the old and new team names so that the Launchpad administrators can import your old archives. Viewing list archives ===================== Full archives for each mailing list are available by clicking `Mailing list archive` on the team's overview page. .. figure:: /images/team-summary-ml-archive.png Mailing list archives The archives are available to view by date or thread. Next steps ========== Teams are a great way for communities to organise themselves. If, however, your project isn't yet in Launchpad's directory, you need to `register `_ it to use track its bugs and code, translate it into different languages and more. Troubleshooting =============== If you're having problems with mailing lists, there are a few things you can try to do before you submit a `bug report `_ or `question `_. Here are some common problems and easy solutions. Unable to post to a mailing list -------------------------------- A common symptom is that you post a message to a mailing list, but you never see the list copy of the message in your inbox. There are several possible reasons for this; here are the things to check. #. **Is the message in the list's archive?** If so, and you are using Google Mail, you should read `this Mailman FAQ item `_. #. **Are you registered with Launchpad?** The email address you use in the `From:` field of your message must be registered and validated with Launchpad. If not, your message will get discarded and you will not get a bounce. #. **Are you a member of the team?** All team members may post to their team's mailing list. Non-member postings will get held for the approval of the team owner. If you are not a member of the team, contact the team owner to see if your message is being held. If all else fails, you can `post a question `_ to the Launchpad answer tracker and we will respond as soon as possible.