New Retention Policy for Held Messages in Mailman

Starting Jan. 20, 2025, any held messages that are older than six months will be automatically deleted from Mailman. 

List administrators or moderators should review older held messages and either approve or delete them before they are automatically deleted on Jan. 20.

More about held messages 

Held messages in Mailman are messages that are being held for moderation approval before they can be delivered to members of the specific Mailman mailing list.  Under the new policy, "held messages" that have not been approved will be retained for up to six months. Held messages older than six months will be automatically deleted.

Messages may be held for various reasons, including: 

• Moderation: Messages require approval from a list administrator or moderator.
• Spam Filtering: Certain messages may be flagged as potential spam and held for review.
• Non-Subscriber Posts: Messages from non-subscribers may be held based on list settings.
• Size Limits: Messages exceeding size limits can be held.
• Content Filters: Messages with specific keywords or phrases may be held.

Why is this changing?

Regularly removing older held messages helps minimize storage overhead and reduce costs while preventing potential application performance issues. Additionally, leaving messages unapproved for too long increases the risk of delivering outdated content to members. 

Learn more and get help

• Learn more about Mailman Mailing List Service and Mailing List Policies.
• If you need additional assistance with Mailing List Service, please submit a Help request.