2.8. Help! I use Gmail/Googlemail, but I can't tell if any of my messages have been posted to the list!

Q: I use Gmail/Googlemail, but when I send a message to a list that I am subscribed to I never get a copy back.

A: There is a problem with gmail/googlemail - when you send a message to a mailing list, any mailing list, gmail doesn't show you your own message as it comes back from the list. Everybody else sees it, even other gmail users, but not you. And replies to your message will be threaded with your post as you sent it, not as it came back (ie without list headers, subject tags or footers). This is a "feature" of gmail, and there is nothing you or the list administrator can do about it.

Update: It appears you as a user can work around this with a gmail filter. See this FAQ for details.

Further update: The filter described doesn't actually work as discussed in the note at the bottom of the FAQ.

For Google's explanation of this, see http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6588. Note: as of some time prior to February, 2016, Google has rearranged its help pages and this link no longer gives the relevant page which appears to no longer exist. There are some Gmail help forum threads on this at https://support.google.com/mail/search?q=mail+list+posts+not+received including https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/fkbKPajx1Dw, https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/MHEZDkqCHEY and https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/-8NXefgcsmk.

Note that the Google explanation appears to say that your message from the list will be archived in "All Mail", but this is not correct. The only message in "All Mail" is your original message from "Sent". The actual message from the list with all headers and the list's footer and header if any is apparently not saved anywhere by Google. It appears that any message you receive with a Message-ID: matching one already in your gmail folders will be discarded as a duplicate. This is true even if you didn't originate the mail. For example if your list option "Avoid Duplicates" is No and a post is sent to the list with a direct Cc: to you, you will only see whichever copy arrived first at your inbox.

If your list has archives that you can check, you can at least see whether or not your message got posted to the list. You can also set your Mailman option "Receive acknowledgement mail when you send mail to the list?" to Yes. Beyond that, unfortunately there is nothing else we can do to help you.

Note that in Mailman 3 Postorius, "Avoid Duplicates" is called "Receive list copies (possible duplicates)" and "Receive acknowledgement mail when you send mail to the list?" is called "Acknowledge posts".

• If you are concerned that your message may have been thrown away as spam, see FAQ 3.42 at All messages from my list are being rejected by AOL (or hotmail, or Yahoo! or Google Gmail-googlemail, etc...) as spam, or being silently thrown away!.

If you routinely post from a gmail account, it would probably be good to visit your user options page for the list in question and set "Receive your own posts to the list?" to No, since you won't see them anyway, and set "Receive acknowledgement mail when you send mail to the list?" to Yes so you will receive confirmation of your post.

Converted from the Mailman FAQ Wizard

This is one of many Frequently Asked Questions.