Technical Manual for Moderating an e-Forum with Sympa Software

Please note: This manual is temporary and designed as a reference for all the technical aspects of managing an e-forum using Sympa. When the forum management system incorporated into the Awele database is ready, you will be informed and this manual will be replaced.

__________________________________________________________

In all that follows, when you see an example of an URL, remember that the domain name that will replace the domain name you are seeing will be your domain name.

__________________________________________________________

First and foremost, if you haven’t done so already, you need to subscribe to the support list, or hotline, for users of Awele methods and tools. Go to http://www.forums.awele.net/info/users and click on "Subscribe." You can use this forum to ask all the questions you need answers for and, where possible, share the solutions you have found to help other users with their problems.

A collective system has been set up to manage Awele forums.

• The forums are managed by Sympa software, which is used to create a forum and specify its technical characteristics, subscribe and unsubscribe participants, moderate messages, store all the messages, etc. One of the advantages of the Sympa software is that you can use it in two ways:
  • from your e-mail application, by sending e-mails with specially coded requests to Sympa (thus limiting your actual time on line);
  • on the Web, working from the Web page of your forum (much easier, but requiring you to work on line).

Please note: Opening an electronic list exposes you to the risk of receiving more viruses, and we strongly recommend that you install a good, updatable anti-virus software on your computer.

1. ACCESSING THE GENERAL SYMPA PAGE

The first time you access the page presenting the list of your forums, e.g. http://www.forums.awele.net/, if it is not displayed in English, scroll to the bottom of the page then select “English” from the pull-down menu on the bottom left-hand side of the page. For purposes of confidentiality, you then need to log in at the top left-hand side of the page. If you already have an Awele account and forum password, enter your e-mail address and password, and click “Login.” If you do not have a password, or have lost it, click on the appropriate link just below, and follow instructions. A password will be sent to your e-mail address, after which you con proceed to log in. You can then use the "Your preferences" link (underneath the login box) to change your password.

Click on the "list of lists" tab to access the list(s) that you are subscribed to. Those for which you have administration rights will appear with "admin" in a box to the left of the list address.