From 960898c7e4f8b8d11ecf2f673d335b3e681863da Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Antoine=20Beaupr=C3=A9?= <anarcat@debian.org>
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2025 14:58:57 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] add procedure on how to disable a mailing list
 (tpo/tpa/team#41981)

---
 service/lists.md | 22 +++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/service/lists.md b/service/lists.md
index fbbdc558..4db4d261 100644
--- a/service/lists.md
+++ b/service/lists.md
@@ -184,10 +184,27 @@ Note that we don't keep track of the list of mailing lists. If a list
 needs to be publicly listed, it can be configured as such in Mailman,
 while keeping the archives private.
 
+## Disable a list
+
+ 1. Remove owners and add `devnull@torproject.org` as owner
+ 2. In Settings, Message Acceptance: set all emails to be rejected
+    (both member and non-member)
+ 3. Add `^.*@.*` to the ban list
+ 4. Add to description that this mailing list is disabled like `[Disabled]` or `[Archived]`
+
+This procedure is derived from the [Wikimedia Foundation
+procedure](https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailman#Disable_or_re-enable_a_mailing_list). Note that upstream does [not seem to have a procedure
+for this yet](https://lists.mailman3.org/archives/list/mailman-users@mailman3.org/thread/7IZ5DJ6UXV6SQGL3BGA3DMYNZOFFQAAF/), so this is actually a workaround.
+
 ## Remove a list
 
+WARNING: do not follow this procedure unless you're absolutely sure
+you want to entirely destroy a list. This is likely NOT what you want,
+see [disable a list](#disable-a-list) instead.
+
 To remove a list, use the `mailman-wrapper remove` command. Be careful
-because this removes the list without confirmation!
+because this removes the list without confirmation! This includes
+mailing lists archives!
 
 ```
 ssh lists-01.torproject.org mailman-wrapper remove LISTNAME
@@ -345,6 +362,9 @@ name, which led to [incorrect Archived-At headers](https://gitlab.torproject.org
 It's unclear how automated Mailman 3 upgrades will be, but right now
 we're relying on Debian packages for this.
 
+The [Wikimedia foundation guide](https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailman#Upgrading_Mailman3) has instructions that could be
+relevant here.
+
 ## SLA
 
 There's no SLA specifically associated with this service.
-- 
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