Re: Alternatives to Google Groups?

[Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@meetinghouse.net>]

I've had a lot of good luck w/ Sympa (www.sympa.org) though I'm not sure 
it's as easy as google groups.

There's a package called groupserver 
(http://groupserver.org/groupserver) that's exactly what you're looking 
for (except possibly the "obscure e-mail addresses" requirement - it 
might, but I'm not sure).  It's still somewhat young, and there are not 
a lot a large user base (it's open source, but they also seem to be 
focusing on their hosted version) - but every time I go hunting, that's 
the one I end up looking at.

If you play with it, I'd be interested in your experiences.

Miles Fidelman

Reid Priedhorsky wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> [Slightly OT, I know, but this list contains many technically savvy people
> who are able to answer well...]
>
> I run a mailing list which is currently hosted by Google Groups. We've
> been having ongoing problems with reliability (i.e., messages make it to
> the web interface but not all e-mail subscribers).
>
> Do any of you have suggestions for an alternative?
>
> Here are the requirements.
>
> 1. E-mail list, gatewayed bi-directionally to a
> 2. Web forum
> 3. Easy for unsophisticated users to use.
> 4. Subscriber count of a few hundred.
> 5. Dozens of e-mails per day.
> 6. Public archives obscure e-mail addresses.
>
> Ideally, it would be something that we could host ourselves. I know that
> Yahoo and MSN both offer free e-mail lists with web fora, but then we're
> still dependent on someone else's free service.
>
> We do have a Postgres database with a user/password table and the
> expertise to hook something into this. However, it would be nice if people
> who do not have an account could participate in the list.
>
> (For example, Mailman does not meet the requirements because there's no
> web forum and it's too hard to use.)
>
> We're not adverse to paying for a solution if it's not too expensive.
>
> Any suggestions much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Reid
>
>
>   


--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.   .... Yogi Berra