Moderation

Posts by members and nonmembers are subject to moderation checks during incoming processing. Different situations can cause such posts to be held for moderator approval.

>>> from mailman.app.lifecycle import create_list
>>> mlist = create_list('test@example.com')

Members and nonmembers have a moderation action which can shortcut the normal moderation checks. The built-in chain does just a few checks first, such as seeing if the message has a matching Approved: header, or if the emergency flag has been set on the mailing list, or whether a mail loop has been detected.

Mailing lists have a default moderation action, one for members and another for nonmembers. If a member’s moderation action is None, then the member moderation check falls back to the appropriate list default.

A moderation action of defer means that no explicit moderation check is performed and the rest of the rule chain processing proceeds as normal. But it is also common for first-time posters to have a hold action, meaning that their messages are held for moderator approval for a while.

Nonmembers almost always have a hold action, though some mailing lists may choose to set this default action to discard, meaning their posts would be immediately thrown away.

Member moderation

Posts by list members are moderated if the member’s moderation action is not deferred. The default setting for the moderation action of new members is determined by the mailing list’s settings. By default, a mailing list is not set to moderate new member postings.

>>> print(mlist.default_member_action)
Action.defer

In order to find out whether the message is held or accepted, we can subscribe to internal events that are triggered on each case.

>>> from mailman.interfaces.chain import ChainEvent
>>> def on_chain(event):
...     if isinstance(event, ChainEvent):
...         print(event)
...         print(event.chain)
...         print('Subject:', event.msg['subject'])
...         print('Hits:')
...         for hit in event.msgdata.get('rule_hits', []):
...             print('   ', hit)
...         print('Misses:')
...         for miss in event.msgdata.get('rule_misses', []):
...             print('   ', miss)

Anne is a list member with moderation action of None so that moderation will fall back to the mailing list’s default_member_action.

>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import subscribe
>>> member = subscribe(mlist, 'Anne', email='anne@example.com')
>>> member
<Member: Anne Person <anne@example.com> on test@example.com
         as MemberRole.member>
>>> print(member.moderation_action)
None

Anne’s post to the mailing list runs through the incoming runner’s default built-in chain. No rules hit and so the message is accepted.

>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import (specialized_message_from_string
...   as message_from_string)
>>> msg = message_from_string("""\
... From: anne@example.com
... To: test@example.com
... Subject: aardvark
...
... This is a test.
... """)

>>> from mailman.core.chains import process
>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import event_subscribers
>>> with event_subscribers(on_chain):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'default-posting-chain')
<mailman.interfaces.chain.AcceptEvent ...>
<mailman.chains.accept.AcceptChain ...>
Subject: aardvark
Hits:
Misses:
    dmarc-mitigation
    no-senders
    approved
    emergency
    loop
    banned-address
    member-moderation
    nonmember-moderation
    administrivia
    implicit-dest
    max-recipients
    max-size
    news-moderation
    no-subject
    digests
    suspicious-header

However, when Anne’s moderation action is set to hold, her post is held for moderator approval.

>>> from mailman.interfaces.action import Action
>>> member.moderation_action = Action.hold

>>> msg = message_from_string("""\
... From: anne@example.com
... To: test@example.com
... Subject: badger
...
... This is a test.
... """)

>>> with event_subscribers(on_chain):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'default-posting-chain')
<mailman.interfaces.chain.HoldEvent ...>
<mailman.chains.hold.HoldChain ...>
Subject: badger
Hits:
    member-moderation
Misses:
    dmarc-mitigation
    no-senders
    approved
    emergency
    loop
    banned-address

Anne’s moderation action can also be set to discard…

>>> member.moderation_action = Action.discard

>>> msg = message_from_string("""\
... From: anne@example.com
... To: test@example.com
... Subject: cougar
...
... This is a test.
... """)

>>> with event_subscribers(on_chain):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'default-posting-chain')
<mailman.interfaces.chain.DiscardEvent ...>
<mailman.chains.discard.DiscardChain ...>
Subject: cougar
Hits:
    member-moderation
Misses:
    dmarc-mitigation
    no-senders
    approved
    emergency
    loop
    banned-address

… or reject.

>>> member.moderation_action = Action.reject

>>> msg = message_from_string("""\
... From: anne@example.com
... To: test@example.com
... Subject: dingo
...
... This is a test.
... """)

>>> with event_subscribers(on_chain):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'default-posting-chain')
<mailman.interfaces.chain.RejectEvent ...>
<mailman.chains.reject.RejectChain ...>
Subject: dingo
Hits:
    member-moderation
Misses:
    dmarc-mitigation
    no-senders
    approved
    emergency
    loop
    banned-address

Nonmembers

Registered nonmembers are handled very similarly to members, except that a different list default setting is used when moderating nonmemberds. This is how the incoming runner adds sender addresses as nonmembers.

>>> from zope.component import getUtility
>>> from mailman.interfaces.usermanager import IUserManager
>>> user_manager = getUtility(IUserManager)
>>> address = user_manager.create_address('bart@example.com')
>>> address
<Address: bart@example.com [not verified] at ...>

When the moderation rule runs on a message from this sender, this address will be registered as a nonmember of the mailing list, and it will be held for moderator approval.

>>> msg = message_from_string("""\
... From: bart@example.com
... To: test@example.com
... Subject: elephant
...
... """)

>>> with event_subscribers(on_chain):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'default-posting-chain')
<mailman.interfaces.chain.HoldEvent ...>
<mailman.chains.hold.HoldChain ...>
Subject: elephant
Hits:
    nonmember-moderation
Misses:
    dmarc-mitigation
    no-senders
    approved
    emergency
    loop
    banned-address
    member-moderation

>>> nonmember = mlist.nonmembers.get_member('bart@example.com')
>>> nonmember
<Member: bart@example.com on test@example.com as MemberRole.nonmember>

When a nonmember’s default moderation action is None, the rule will use the mailing list’s default_nonmember_action.

>>> print(nonmember.moderation_action)
None
>>> print(mlist.default_nonmember_action)
Action.hold