Question

What are the different roles in Sympa?

Overview

Your specific role in Sympa is on a list-by-list basis. It's possible to be an owner on one list but a subscriber on another list. It is also possible to have multiple roles on the same list, such as an Owner, Moderator and Subscriber.

Answer

• Owners
• Privileged Owners
• Normal Owners
• Moderators
• Subscribers
• List Masters

Owners

Owners are, in general, the creator of lists. They will control the following areas of list management:

• Define the purpose of a list
• Configure Options
• Appoint moderators< rel="nofollow">
• Manage subscriptions
• Respond to subscriber/potential subscriber inquiries

A list can have several owners; by default, the Privileged Owner role is granted only to the list creator. Other owners have a Normal Owner profile, unless promoted to privileged. Only a Privileged Owner can elevate Normal Owners, please send a request to ithelp@ucdavis.edu if there are no Privileged Owners on your list. Normal owners have a slight difference in list control:

Privileged Owners:

• Manage and maintain subscribers
• Control most list options
• Add message headers/footers on mail sent to list
• Promote subscribers, moderators, and owners to normal or privileged owners

Normal Owners:

• Manage/Maintain Subscribers
• View list options but cannot modify
• Add message headers/footers on mail sent to list

Moderators:

Moderators (if enabled) are appointed by the list owner. All messages have to be approved by a moderator before being distributed. There can be more than one, but the list creator is, by default, a moderator. In general the moderator controls the following aspects of a list:

• Approve/Reject messages sent to a list
• Distribute/Reject messages without consent of other editors
• Manage custom rejection messages
• Reject messages with or without notification to sender
• Add a sender's e-mail address to the blocklist for permanent rejection

Note: Only one Moderator needs to approve a message for distribution. The time a message is approved is when it will be sent to the list subscribers. Lists do not have to be moderated if the owner decides it unnecessary.

Subscribers:

Subscribers are the end recipients of a list. They will have the following capabilities:

• Receive approved (if moderated) messages sent to a list they are subscribed to
• Join publicly joinable lists
• Access certain list features (if available)

Note: All list users can have a vast variety of roles including being a list owner, subscriber, moderator, or list master.

List Masters:

List masters are essentially the administrators over the Sympa list system. This role is reserved for IT Express and other administrators. Their duties include but are not limited to:

• Manage the mailing list servers
• Control who is allowed to create lists
• Provide controls for end-user use
• Create templates for list creation
• Modify the list management interface
• Establish rules and policies for overall list use
• Approve mailing list requests
• Moderate list owners

You may contact the list masters by sending an email to: ithelp@ucdavis.edu

Note: List subscribers should contact their list owner before contacting a list master for questions/inquiries. A privileged owner will be a list master's primary contact when necessary.