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David Andrews writes:
Exactly what is your use case? What do you mean by "obtain"? What do you mean by "non-technical people deal"?
I suspect "obtain" means something you don't need to do, and "non-technical people deal" means "click to read". If so, the answer is basically "delete the list, don't delete the archive". That's easiest for the users since they just go to the same place. Best of all the site admin doesn't have to do much of anything besides delete the list configuration file, and possibly edit the MTA config.[1] Note that this can create backscatter (mail rejection notices to third parties0, but that's no different from any other non-existent address at your server.
The only problem is if the archives are "members only", because deleting the list would also delete their credentials. Since in an important sense the membership database *is* the list, in that case, you don't want to delete the list, you want to disable delivery and access to the administrative interfaces. There are several ways to do those things, and some vary according to the MTA. They have subtly different consequences for what happens if somebody tries to post to the list or subscribe to it. The one you're most likely to care about is "the post disappears into a black hole and the member is distressed," but some of them can create backscatter in the case of spammers.
Footnotes: [1] In the usual configuration for Exim4, Exim checks for lists/$NAME/config.pck, and if it's there, routes mail for $NAME to Mailman. Nothing to do once you delete config.pck. Postfix OTOH usually needs you to run a script to update the aliases.
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At 11:17 PM 8/28/2022, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
Thanks everyone. This all sounds reasonable except it also identifies another problem we are having. There is no good search method in place. I installed search several years back, I can't remember what it was called off the top of my head. It broke something in cPanel, and their support basically said remove search or you get no support from us. So leaving archives in place long term, without a good search method doesn't make much sense.
Also the organizations librarian wants the archives for historic and other reasons, so leaving them here won't satisfy that.
Dave
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At 11:17 PM 8/28/2022, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
Thanks everyone. This all sounds reasonable except it also identifies another problem we are having. There is no good search method in place. I installed search several years back, I can't remember what it was called off the top of my head. It broke something in cPanel, and their support basically said remove search or you get no support from us. So leaving archives in place long term, without a good search method doesn't make much sense.
Also the organizations librarian wants the archives for historic and other reasons, so leaving them here won't satisfy that.
Dave
participants (2)
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David Andrews
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Stephen J. Turnbull