[Mailman-Users] Making Mailman even more useful...

[Frederick Noronha]

Guys, Excuse me if I stray off the point. I'm a journalist, not techie.

I've used mailing lists since 1995 and know their power. Mailman is a
great software. Makes one wonder why a number of general books on
mailing-lists fail to talk about Mailman while introducing mailing-list
software like Listserv, Majordomo, ListProc, Lyris, etc... and sites
like Yahoogroups.com or Topica, etc.

My experience has been mainly with Majordomo and Yahoogroups.

Some of the features I find very useful on Yahoogroups:

* Administration (in large measure) via email. For approving or
  rejecting messages, adding or removing members, etc.
* Facility for building much of what a 'virtual community' needs 
  in one place itself. (Storing files, a more-than-basic
  webpage, uploading photos, checking group activity, etc)

Some of the Majordomo features I found cool:

* Plenty admin tasks possible via email.
* Easy for admin to add/delete members via email.
* Well documented in books.

I like Mailman, and find it superior to Majordomo. But maybe I'm unaware
about how some of its features work, so still find Yahoogroups a little
more user-friendly (perhaps out of ignorance).

The problem is that Yahoogroups is dropping hints about offering paid
services.For us in the Third World, where remitting even small amounts of
foreign currency can be a nightmare, this could cause a whole lot of
problems. Mailman could help, and is already helping, us in a big way!

Keep up the good work.

Could you please let me know where I could buy a good book on Mailman?
--
Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783
BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org  * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com
Email fred at bytesforall.org * SMS 9822122436 at attcell.net * Saligao Goa India
Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference