How to Reduce the Exposure of your List to Spam

It is impossible to completely block unsolicited email; however there are several ways that you can reduce the exposure of your mailing list to this type of email, by using majordomo configuration options.

You can choose the "noadvertise" option. This will hide your list so that its name cannot be obtained by the "lists" command. Only list subscribers will see your list in response to the "lists" command.
You can moderate your list, so that all postings will be sent to you, the list-owner, for your approval prior to being sent to the list.
You can also restrict posting, so that only people who are subscribed to the list can post to the list.
You can "close" the list to prevent mass forged subscriptions and inappropriate postings.

Or, if you are the owner of list that is no longer in use, please remove the list. For more details, please refer to How to Remove a Majordomo Mailing List.

Configuration Options

The five options that you may wish to change are

noadvertise
restrict_post
moderate
subscribe_policy
who_access

In order to implement these changes, you will need to make changes to your list's configuration file.

Before making these changes, examine your configuation file. If you already have these options; change the existing values if necessary. If you do not already have these options, add them to the end of your file (before the the EOF).

Noadvertise option: to turn this option on, these lines must appear in your configuration file:
```
	noadvertise <<END
	/.*/
	END
```
Moderate option: change the line "moderate = no" to, or add:
```
	moderate = yes 
```
Restrict posting option: add this line:
```
 	restrict_post = list_name
```
where list_name is the name of your list. Of course, if your list is "open" then anyone can subscribe and then post to your list. You can "close" the list, and then you will need to approve every subscription request. For more details, see the next item for subscribe_policy instructions.
Subscribe policy option: change the line "subscribe_policy = open", or add this line:
```
	subscribe_policy = closed
```
For more information, please refer to Subscription policies.
who_access option: change the line "who_access = open" , or add this line:
```
	who_access = closed
or
	who_access = list
```
If you use "closed", then no one will be able to obtain a list of all the addresses subscribed to your mailing list. If you use "list" then only list members will be able to obtain a list of the addresses subscribed to your mailing list.

For more details on these options please refer to the Majordomo List Owner's Guide.

How to Change Your Majordomo Configuration File

First you will need to get a copy of your current majordomo list configuration file. If you own a digest, make sure to follow these instructions for both the regular list and the digest list.

In order to receive a copy of your list's configuration file, send mail addressed to majordomo@listlink that contains this command:

	config list_name list_password

replacing list_name with the name of your list and list_password with your password.

In return, you'll receive a copy of your current configuration file.

You'll need to save this in a file. Edit that file and remove everything up to and including this line:

	>>>> config list_name list_passwd

including the mail headers. At the top of the configuration file add this line:

	 newconfig list_name list_passwd

replacing list_name with the name of your list and list_password with your password.

You will also need to make sure that

EOF

is the last line in your configuration file.

Make sure that you add the changes to your existing configuration file. If you send only the new changes then all the rest of your previous configuration file will be lost.

When you are through, mail the entire configuration file, which includes your changes, to majordomo@listlink.