[Mailman-Users] Mailman as helpdesk tool

[Andrew Solomon]

Dear Mailman team,

I work on the GAP project (http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~gap/)
which is an open source computer algebra package whose 
development team is distributed (thinly:) across the globe.

At present help requests and bug reports go to a mail alias for the list of 
30-odd developers and to an archive, but there is no automated management.
I am investigating the possibility of using Mailman as a tool for 
automating the management of this "helpdesk". (I am aware of Reqng
but would prefer to use something more mainstream).

I envisage that our helpdesk would be a mailing list to which the developers
belong, and to which users could send their requests.

Our requirements are:

- sending an automated response: We got your mail (so don't complain a day
	later you did not get a response).

[I think Mailman will do this without any problem whatsoever]

- Providing a method to check which requests are still open (the `human'
  method we have so far does not work very well). One could
  view the archive by thread, but it would be nice to 
  be able to delete/hide a thread when the matter is dealt with. 

[Is this possible, or an easy exercise for someone willing to learn Python?]

- Periodically, or on request, send a reminder to the list about threads which
are still active.

[ditto previous question]

Best wishes,

Andrew Solomon