Utilities: Automated Messages: Match Phrases: New/Edit Match Phrase: Advanced

Rule

Determines the portion of the incoming email message that will be checked for the match phrase. The entire message, or some subset of it (the first line, the From: line, etc.).

Notify Email Addresses

If filled in, these email addresses will receive a notification when this match phrase is triggered.

The notification will include the full document text that caused the match phrase to trigger. If you want to specify several email addresses to be notified, put each address on a separate line:

jane@yourcompany.com
joe@yourcompany.com

Replace With

Replace any matched text with this text.

(Note: This feature does not work with regular expressions as match phrases.)

This option is extremely useful for announcement lists, as it can be used to provide transparent posting security, so that only you are allowed to send to your mailing list, with 100% security. No one else is able to and you do not have to do anything special once it is set up.

For example, you can create a match phrase which refuses any postings that do not have your signature line in them and changes your signature in a subtle way, perhaps changing a comma to a semicolon, so that the match phrase which allows posts is no longer present.

Or, if you are using a particular version of a mail program, which adds its own header to every message (example: "X-Mailer: MS Mail 3.412") you can set your list up to refuse any message that doesn't have a particular characteristic.

Another use is to require a certain password to be included in every posting, and all postings without that password are rejected.

If you do not use the "Replace With" feature, then the key phrase, which allowed the message to go through, is visible in your postings. Thus, it is possible that someone would take your example message, change a few things, and attempt to forge the message as if it came from you. Because the key phrase is visible in the posted message, someone can exploit this. This is unlikely, but it is possible.

There are some malfunctioning mail server programs which take locally undeliverable mail and return it in such a way that it looks exactly like the original post. ListManager almost always catches this problem (because they have headers in them that ListManager added to catch this) but, the same technique is possible by someone who is dishonest.

The "Replace With" feature allows you to change (or erase) the key phrase which allowed your message to be posted. Say, for example, that you set your match phrase to refuse all postings that do not contain "X-Mailer: MS Mail 3.412" in their header. Messages that are accepted should change this key phrase to have a slight difference, say: "X-Mailer: MS Mail 3.413". There is no way for others to know that the "2" changed to a "3," and hence no way for them to bypass your security.

Other headers can be used as well. For example, have the match phrase be a particular "Received" header, which indicates from where the message came from. Set your match phrase to look for a Received: header that only your internal network would generate. Set your match phrase to refuse messages, which do not have this, Received: line, and then slightly alter the Received: line so that others do not know what the key is to get in.

This feature can also be used to implement password based posting, which means any contribution that does not have the posting password is refused. For example, set your match phrase to refuse any posting which does not contain the word "open sesame," then set the match phrase to Replace With a space (" ") thus, erasing the password.

Applies To

Determines in which cases ListManager will check for this Match Phrase.

The choices are:

Mailing List

Applies to the mailing list that is selected.

All Mailing Lists on This Site

Applies to all lists on the site. Available only if you are creating a match phrase as a site admin.

All Mailing Lists on This Server

Applies to all lists on this server. Available only if you are creating a match phrase as a server admin.

Mail Sent to the Listmanager@ Command Address

Applies only to mail sent to the listmanager@ address for this server. Normally, Match Phrases are applied to the mail sent to a mailing list. With the "listmanager@" setting, mail sent to the ListManager Address is checked for match phrases. This lets you add additional commands to the ones that ListManager normally understands. For instance, if you want to offer an application form for joining a mailing list, you could create a match phrase for "get application" which responds by sending back the application form.

Admin Access Level

Select the desired list, site, or server from the drop-down menu. Server-wide match phrases can only be created or edited by server administrators. Match phrases for sites can only be created or edited by site administrators, and list administrators can only create and edit match phrases for the lists accessible to them.

More

1. Utilities: Automated Messages: Match Phrases

1. Utilities: Automated Messages: Match Phrases: New Match Phrase: Essentials

2. Utilities: Automated Messages: Match Phrases: New Match Phrase: Advanced

3. Utilities: Automated Messages: Match Phrases: New Match Phrase: For Programmers