:} CL> http://www.hpc.uh.edu/majordomo/ :} :}Thanks for the link. There's some interesting stuff there in the MD2 :}feature list, many of which I think we could encorporate (did I say :}steal? :). :} :}-Barry

Yes, it has some excellent features, although it's not at present easy to use. 'Spent a couple of hours testing the latest mailman from CVS. You all have made excellent progress since last spring.

Here's my top 10 wish list for mailman:

1. A way to search the subscriber list

   Mj2's who command can handle regular expressions, to a limited extent. This is the single feature I've found essential for list management.

2. A better integration of multiple mailing lists on the same site.

   Mj2's access rules allow the use of subscriber/auxiliary groups from other mailing lists on the same site.

   Also, one of my fellow mailman list owners wrote to me:

""" A couple of things I really miss in mailman:

1. The "Which" command. I manage several lists and it is frustrating to get a message that says unsubscribe, you don't know which list they are on, sometimes they don't know which list they were on. Hate having to check each list individually. In majordomo you could just type "which" and their email address and get a list of all the lists they were on.

2. Sure would like to have names attached to the email addresses. """

3. A third choice for moderated messages: send the message to the archive, but don't distribute it on the list.

   Mj2 does not have this feature, but we implemented it as an add-on hack to listproc. During several week-long book seminars, this feature was a compromise between overwhelming the book's author and totally rejecting messages which would be worthwhile under ordinary circumstances.

4. A fourth choice for moderated messages: revise and resubmit.

   Some seminar moderators used this feature heavily, adding their comments to a moderated message and sending it back for improvement. We used a textarea and an "include original" button to allow people to mix the original message with the moderators' comments. This is an area where e-mail might be easier than WWW moderation, since the moderators can more easily use their favorite editor. This was also a listproc add-on.

5. Better archive retrieval

   Mj2's archive command (I just managed to get it working this week) has a strange but flexible syntax for retrieving messages. One can use a count, a message's ID number, or a date to indicate messages. A hyphen is used to indicate ranges. For example:

   3 Retrieve the last three messages 19991018 Retrieve all messages Oct. 18 of last year 199910/5 - 200001/4 Retrieve all messages btwn. the 5th message in the October 1999 archive and the 4th message in the January 2000 archive. 10 - 4 Retrieve the 10 messages immediately preceding the fourth most recent message in the archive. :)

   Either messages (archive-get) or a numbered index (archive-index) may be retrieved.

   I believe listserv and ezmlm have similar features.

6. Timed vacations

   listar and mj2 both allow one to postpone mail for a certain number of days or weeks.

7. Rewritefrom

   mj2 has a "rewritefrom" subscriber option that changes my From: line comment when I post messages from my name to something like "List Owner: Don't Tread on Me" or "Someone Completely Different."

8. NoSubjectPrefix & NoReplyTo

   Unhappy with the list owner's choices? No problem.

   Mj2's subject-stripping feature allowed me to do an interesting thing with a reflector: the original mailing list has a subject prefix, but by default the subscribers to the reflector don't see it, although they have the option to change that.

9. Multiple digests

   Mj2 also has index digests (subjects and authors only), and a lot of flexibility in determining when and what size digests are delivered.

10. Rotating fronters and footers

    Mj2 will select one randomly for each message posted.

11. Auxiliary passwords

    An Mj2 list owner can define auxiliary passwords that are valid for a restricted set of commands, like listproc's "subscription manager" setting, but with more flexibility.

Thanks for listening.

Michael