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configset listname post_limits <<TAG
[VALUE LINES]
TAG
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Default Value : no default
Data Type     : limits
Category      : moderate
Password Notes: Visible only with password. 
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EXAMPLE:
configset listname post_limits <<ENDTAG
/joe\@example.com/ |      |
/example.com/      | 3/20 | 5/3d12h,10/4m |
ENDTAG

The "post_limits" setting establishes limits for how often a particular
person can post messages to a mailing list.  The format of each line is:

  pattern | soft_limits | hard_limits | lower_limits

The pattern will be matched against the e-mail address of the author of
the message.  The first line that matches will cause the soft and hard
upper limits on that line to be compared to the author's history of
posted messages.  By default, exceeding a soft limit will cause a posted
message to be moderated; exceeding a hard limit will cause a posted
message to be denied; and not meeting a lower limit will cause a posted
message to be moderated.

See "help patterns" for an introduction to writing Majordomo patterns.

Each set of limits is a comma-separated list of ratios and/or
frequencies.  If an author exceeds a soft limit, this will cause the
"limit_soft" access variable to be set.  Similarly, exceeding a hard
limit will cause the "limit_hard" access variable to be set, and not
meeting a lower limit will cause the "limit_lower" access variable to be
set.  Unless rules for the "post" command in the access_rules setting
take precedence, a message will be moderated if the "limit_soft" or
"limit_lower" access variable is set, or denied if the "limit_hard"
access variable is set.  

If no limits are used, as in the first line of the example above, the
matching address can be exempted from the remaining rules.  The first
pattern to match stops the search, and later rules will have no effect. 

Limits are expressed as ratios or frequencies. For example, the ratio
"3/10" would be exceeded if the author of a message has posted more than
3 out of the last 10 messages.  As another example, the frequency "5/1w"
would be exceeded if the author of a message has posted more than 5
messages in the last week.  Please see the "Time spans" section of the
"help times" document for more information on how to indicate the period
of time in a frequency limit.  As a special case, a time period of one
in a frequency limit can be abbreviated:  "8/1week" and "8/w" are
equivalent, as are "5/1d" and "5/d" and "5/day".

When the limits are checked, the current message is always taken into
account.  For example, if a ratio limit of "4/15" is being checked, the
the statistics for the last 14 messages that have already been posted,
plus the current message, are used to determine if the limit of 4 out of
the last 15 messages has been exceeded.

When the limits are checked, messages by the same author that were
denied, or that were moderated but not approved by the moderators, do
not count against the limit.  Only messages that were successfully
delivered to the subscribers or approved by the moderators for storage
in the archive (with the "accept-archive" command) count against the
limits for a particular author.

Consider the following example:

configset listname post_limits <<ENDTAG
/joe\@example.com/ |      |
/example.com/      | 3/20 | 8/20
/example/          | 7/5d | 10/5d
ENDTAG

In this example, the address "joe@example.com" has no limits set, and
as a result is exempt from the succeeding rules.  Messages posted
from any other address containing "example.com" would be moderated if
more than 3 out the last 20 messages were posted from the same address,
and denied if more than 8 out of the last 20 messages were posted from the
same address.  Messages posted from any address containing "example"
but not "example.com" would be subject to the frequency limits on the
third line.  Finally, any address not containing "example" would not
match any of the patterns, and would not be subject to any limits.

Time spans in frequency limits do not take the calendar or time zone into 
account.  For example, "2d" (2 days) is identical to "48h" (48 hours).
If notices are sent to people whose posts are moderated or denied, you
may wish to use a finer-grained time span to indicate the nature of the
limit.  For instance, if a hard limit of "3/1d" is exceeded, the denial
message might say:

  More than 3 messages posted in 1 day.

Authors who incorrectly expect the statistics for a day's messages to be
reset at midnight local time may be surprised.  However, if instead of
"3/1d" you used "3/24h", the resulting message:

  More than 3 messages posted in 24 hours.

might be clearer to someone who has not been informed about the effect 
of the limit.  Alternatively, the "calendar day" abbreviation can be
used to count messages since midnight, "3/1cd" in the previous example.

There is a "post" trigger to expire data from the "posts" database.  The
number of days that statistics are kept is determined by the
post_lifetime configuration setting.  By default, this time period is 60
days.

It is possible to use comments before, between, and after the individual
rules.  Comments are lines that begin with a '#'.  You can use comments
as a reminder of what a setting does or why it was chosen, but comments
have no impact on how the setting works.


See Also:
   help access_variables
   help admin_moderate
   help configset_access_rules
   help configset_dup_lifetime
   help configset_inactive_lifetime
   help configset_latchkey_lifetime
   help configset_log_lifetime
   help configset_post_lifetime
   help configset_session_lifetime
   help configset_token_lifetime
   help configset_triggers
   help patterns
   help times

INCLUDE-help/foot

For assistance, please contact the smoe.org administrators.
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