How do I get a list of subscribers to my mailman list?

Easy option

To get a list of subscribers, visit your lists "listinfo" page. The listinfo page can be accessed by a URL like the following:

https://domain-name/mailman/listinfo/list-name

Replace domain name with the domain name of your list (for example: lists.mayfirst.org or lists.people-link.net). Replace the list-name with the name of your list.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email address and password.

Alternate option

Alternatively (and less securely) you can send an email message to the request address of your list (your request address is: listname-request@lists.mayfirst.org or listname-request@lists.people-link.net with "listname" replaced with your actual listname, like support-request@… if your listname was called "support"). For the subject line use:

who <password>

Replace <password> with your list password.

After issuing this command, please change your password!

Common pitfals

Admin only access

If your list is configured so that only admins have access to the subscriber list, then you will need to enter an admin email and password. Otherwise, you will need to enter a subscriber's email address and password.

Mangled email addresses

If your email address are printed in the form user at domain dot org and you want them listed normally, then:

• Login into your mailman web admin page
• Click Privacy Options
• Change the last option, which read "Show member addresses so they're not directly recognizable as email addresses?" to: no.

Conceal addresses

When you try to access your subscriber list you may get a message from mailman saying you have X number of private subscribers. This happens because either you configured your list to conceal addresses or a member has chosen to conceal their email address.

If you chose "Conceal the member's address" from the General mailman settings, then you've effectively prevented yourself from generating a list of your subscribers. This is a good setting if your goal is to respect your members' privacy. However, it might not be the best option if you want to someday move the list to another program or use the list of subscribers in a way that mailman doesn't support.

Last resort

If you still can't get access to your member list, open a ticket asking for an MFPL admin to generate one.

MFPL admins can generate a list by running these commands from their local computer:

# assuming the list is on leslie (it could also be on assata if it's a lists.people-link.net list)
ssh root@leslie.mayfirst.org "list_members -f -o <name-of-list>.members.txt <name-of-list> "
scp root@leslie.mayfirst.org:<name-of-list>.members.txt .
ssh root@leslie.mayfirst.org "rm <name-of-list>.members.txt"

These commands will result in a text file in your current directory called <name-of-list>.members.txt which can be emailed to the member in question.