Previous versions of the mailing list software would send Moderation emails that contained mailto: links that would launch an email client such as Outlook to then send a message to the mailing list to approve/reject the message.

The current version sends Moderation emails that contain web links to immediately approve/reject the message. An email client is no longer launched and instead the Moderator is taken to the UChicago Mailing Lists web site. If they're not logged in, then they're prompted to log in, and upon successful login their web browser is redirected to the web link which immediately approves/rejects the message. Once the web link is accessed, it cannot be accessed again and will generate an error stating the message was already approved/rejected.

Old Moderation message compared with new Moderation message

Moderators are encouraged to read the Moderation email carefully before clicking the web links. The first web link under the text "To view the messages, please click the following URL:" will send the Moderator to a page to view the message pending Moderation instead of immediately approving/rejecting it.

Impact on alias email addresses

Email addresses configured as Moderators on a mailing list determine who can Moderate messages. UChicago allows users to add additional alias email addresses to their cnetid@uchicago.edu address. Some users have configured mailing lists to use these alias email addresses as Moderators.

Since the old versions of the mailing list software would send Moderation emails that contained mailto: links that would launch an email client such as Outlook, they were able to send the approval/rejection message as an alias email address.

Under the current system, the Moderation approval/rejection web links require the user to log in to the UChicago Mailing Lists web site as their cnetid@uchicago.edu. However if cnetid@uchicago.edu isn't configured as a Moderator - and instead one of their alias email addresses is configured as a Moderator - then they may receive an "authorization denied" error message. Moderators are encouraged to add their cnetid@uchicago.edu as a Moderator for any mailing lists they previously had configured for their alias email address.