# Mirroring a read-only mailing list in Discourse

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/mirroring-a-read-only-mailing-list-in-discourse/77990
**Category:** Site Management
**Tags:** how-to
**Created:** [January 14, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mirroring-a-read-only-mailing-list-in-discourse/77990 "2018-01-14T13:03:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
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### Author: ![Discourse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/discourse/32/148734_2.png) [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mirroring-a-read-only-mailing-list-in-discourse/77990/1 "2018-01-14T13:03:58Z")

</div>

> 🔖 This guide explains how to create a read-only mirror of a mailing list using Discourse. It covers the necessary site settings, category configuration, and subscription process.
> 
> 🙋 Required user level: Administrator

Discourse can function as an archive for a mailing list while allowing registered users to utilize most of its features. This guide will walk you through the process of setting up your own mailing list mirror.

> 👀 See this in our action on [the Ruby-Talk mailing list mirror](https://rubytalk.org/).

## Summary

- Configure site settings for email handling
- Create or modify a category for the mailing list
- Subscribe to the mailing list
- Understand how the mirroring process works

> The following guide uses two email addresses as placeholders. You need to replace them with your actual addresses.
> 
> **`discourse@example.com`** is address for incoming emails on your Discourse  
> **`mailing-list@foo.test`** is the submission address of the mailing list\[1\]

## Configuring site settings

1. If you’re not on a hosting plan that pre-configures incoming email, set up [POP3 polling or manual polling via API](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-reply-via-email-e-mail/42026) for the account associated with your Discourse email address (e.g., `discourse@example.com`).

2. Enable the following site settings:

3. Optional settings:

## Creating or modifying a category

1. Create a new category or edit an existing one for the mailing list posts.

2. Configure category permissions:

When you’re done, it should look like this:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/8/c/8c80e76363313b92ed30575bb1380cd77575d024.png)

1. Configure category settings:

2. Save the category settings.

## Subscribing to the mailing list

1. Subscribe to the mailing list using your Discourse email address (e.g., `discourse@example.com`).

2. If the mailing list has a web interface, ensure the following settings:

For [Mailman 2](https://www.list.org/), make sure:

- “Mail delivery” is “Enabled”
- “Set Digest Mode” is “Off”
- “Get password reminder email for this list?” is set to “No”

## How it works

Enabling “Category mirrors a mailing list” changes how incoming emails are processed for that specific category:

- Auto-generated emails are allowed, even when `block_auto_generated_emails` is enabled
- All users can post via email, ignoring the `email_in_allowed_groups` setting
- Incoming emails use the `Message-ID` to find related posts, regardless of the `find_related_post_with_key` setting
- Markdown interpretation is limited to code blocks enclosed in triple backticks
- Rejection emails are not sent for mailing list posts

## FAQs

**Q: Can I mirror multiple mailing lists?**  
A: Yes, create a separate category for each mailing list and configure them as described above.

**Q: Can users reply to notifications and post to the mailing list?**  
A: No, replies to notifications are sent to Discourse, not the original mailing list. Users cannot post directly to the mailing list through Discourse.

**Q: How can I prevent users from posting to the mirrored category via email?**  
A: While the category allows email posting, you can keep the incoming email address private to prevent unauthorized posting.

* * *

1. i.e. people send to this address to post to the list, and it also appears on the To:/CC: lines of emails sent **by** the list to members 

> Last edited by @supermathie 2024-10-18T20:01:40Z
> 
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:

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