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List:       postfix-users
Subject:    Re: Bounce a particular recipient address with specified reject message
From:       Noel Jones <njones () megan ! vbhcs ! org>
Date:       2009-11-30 22:58:38
Message-ID: 4B144E1E.5040901 () megan ! vbhcs ! org
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On 11/30/2009 3:52 PM, techlist06 wrote:
>> So, lemme get this straight.  You changed the list address, but instead
>> of just sending an email to the list addresses telling all users of the
>> list address change, you just decided to, in essence, inform
>> them via an
>> NDR when they send mail to the list?  There have got to be at
>> least 1000
>> list management how-to's on the web, and not a one would recommend you
>> do this in this way, and probably all 1000 would say _never_ manage a
>> list this way...yikes.
>
> No I didn't change the list address.  It is not a "mail list" like this one,
> more of an "announcement list".  It is not a 2-way mailing list.  The
> subscribers don't send anything to it for other subscribers to see.  It's
> used rarely to send announcements of event cancellations, etc.  About 1000
> subscribers manually maintained.  But, the users tend to start a (unrelated)
> communication with us  via replying to that announcement list's "reply to"
> address since that is where they last received a message from us.  And so
> their message does not go to the right person, it goes to the source address
> of the announcement and we have to sort through them and direct the message
> to where it should have gone to start with.  We just want to let subscriber
> who incorrectly sends to the announcement list address to use one of the
> "correct" addresses to communicate with us, not via replying to the
> announcement list.  See?  FWIW, we tell them not to do it with a footer and
> header on every announcement email, but they do it anyway.  I'm sure there
> is a better way, this seemed easy enough to implement.   Perhaps and
> auto-reply type setup to that particular address.  I looked at those and
> they looked more difficult to set up.  I'd be grateful for better
> suggestions. I'll look for a better way to notify them.
>
> Thanks very much for the help.
>
>
>

The envelope sender where delivery problems are reported can 
be different from the From: header displayed in most email 
clients, which can also be different from the Reply-To: header 
where most mail clients will send if you hit the "Reply" button.

You mustn't block the mail list's envelope sender address; you 
must be able to receive non-delivery notifications.

There's nothing wrong with rejecting incoming mail addressed 
to the mail list "From:" address for an announce-only list.

In your case, it would be a nice touch to add a Reply-To: 
header that points to the human contact or help desk as a 
convenience for your recipients.

Look at this message -- the envelope is 
"owner-postfix-users@..." the From: displayed by your mail 
client is "Noel Jones", but if you hit your reply button it 
will be addressed to "postfix-users@..." since I want replies 
to go to the list.


   -- Noel Jones
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