Duties of Postmaster:
1. For those interested in the day to day activity.
2. For those contemplating running for the Postmaster's position.
by Joe Ciuffini - postmaster 2004-2005
Selam EEDNites,
A brief summary of the Postmaster tasks. regards, Joe ( as Postmaster ) The EEDN Postmaster Tasks with 2004 as a reference point. The following is the list of tasks that the Postmaster was
involved in during the year 2004 for EEDN. Some of these
tasks may be optional and some not:
1. Receive subscription requests from WWW.EEDN.ORG
a) For completely filled forms,
Send mail back to the subscriber asking if they
have read the rules and agree to them. If/when
the response is returned, set up the EEDN list
with the new member
b) For incomplete forms, and depending on the amount
lacking, either discard the request or send mail
to the prospective subscriber asking for complete
information. If/When completed, set up the subscriber.
2. Manage e-mail address changes. This is a sudden activity
that people rarely prepare for and expect immediate
responses. This means going to the list and finding the
person, removing the old address and replacing it with
the new one.
3- A Reviewing the EEDN error reports sent to the EEDN Postmaster
e-mail account ( the postmaster should set up an independent
e-mail account for Postmaster activity.)
These error reports are of two basic types:
a) Failure to find the target mailbox
This issue is usually temporary as the receiving server
may have crashed and the receipient is temporarily off-line.
After 100 failures, the subscriber will be removed from
the EEDN list, automatically.
b) Failure to deliver as the mailbox is full, overquota or
some other reason.
Most subscribers are not very computer 'sensitive' and
need some advice about the problem. The Postmaster sends
mail to the membership to contact that person if they
are acquainted and inform them that the problem exists.
3 - B Reviewing the non-EEDN error reports. These are usually failure
to send a message on to the EEDN list from specific subscribers.
The most common issue is multiple occurrences of: "Reply-To:" "From:" in the body of the message.
The listserv software ( parser ) erroneously scans the body of
the text and triggers a 'failure to send'. Reminders must be
sent frequently to the EEDN membership.
4. Resolve issues of access for a few members.
These issues are tough to resolve and require some help from
the system manager at the receiviing end of the messages.
One such was that the subscriber's site used aliases for
external consumption but real names for internal use. This
was a hard one to track and resolve.
5. As a BOD member, participate in conference calls on a regular
basis to resolve issue related to:
* fundraising ( both independent projects and EEDN annual dues )
* management of subscriber warning letters and suspension
of the subscriber's list subscription
* Writing individual drafts to subscribers or reviewing and
accepting same.
* Post the EEDN Newsletter on an infrequent basis.
6. Manage the 6 month window of the on-line EEDN Archive.
- asking Listserv support for ZIP files of the month
- verifying good copies
- deleting the existing old month file 7. Be involved with the EEDN server support to make changes to
the EEDN.ORG website.
