On 30 July 2001, Julie Bolshaw said:

I am a subscriber on a mail list that uses Mailman. I would like to get a mail list started for another group that I belong to. I have been all through your web site but it sounds incredibly complicated. I feel as though I am in over my head trying to figure out whether or not it is something we can utilize.

I hate to say it, but if it sounds incredibly complicated, that's because it *is* incredibly complicated. If you're not very comfortable administering a full-time Unix Internet server, you probably shouldn't think about running a mailing list manager. (Because you *will* have to run a full-time Unix Internet server if you want to run most mailing list managers, including Mailman.)

Disclaimer: I've only just joined this list; I'm not really the Mailman admin for our site, and I know just enough about Mailman to be dangerous.

In my experience, if you fear that you are in over your head, you probably are. Either you're dealing with immature, buggy, poorly documented software that makes an easy job unnecessarily difficult, or you've stepped into a problem domain that is inherently tricky, and the best software in the world can only help you manage the difficulties of the domain, rather than solve them. With Mailman and mailing list management, you're definitely in the second category.

    Greg

-- Greg Ward - software developer gward@mems-exchange.org MEMS Exchange http://www.mems-exchange.org