[Mailman-Users] Sub-lists

[Mark Sapiro]

On 06/30/2015 12:56 PM, Ron Webb wrote:
> I am looking to set-up a mailing list for a group of people but was hoping
> there is a way to have sub-lists. For example, I'd like to have one group
> be everyone, then another group that is regional. I was thinking of "
> group-all at mydomain.com" for messages covering everyone but they could send
> a message to "group-sacramento at mydomain.com" to and it will only go to
> those that are interested in "Sacramento" specific messages. I would like
> to make subscribers opt-in or opt-out of the regional. At this point, I
> have not selected a hosting service yet. I wish to bring my own domain to
> wherever I choose. I'm not sure if someone that just advertises that they
> use Mailman is sufficient or if I need to find a hosting company that
> provides shell access for setup is what I need. I'm sure there is some Wiki
> or something if this sub-lists works but I must be using the wrong search
> term for what I want.


Mailman can do this in a few different ways, all with standard list
configuration settings available to the list owner.

One possibility is 'topics'. You could have a list with several defined
topics like 'Sacramento'. You define regular expressions to be matched
against the message's Subject:. These can be simple like

a Sacramento topic with a regex of 'sac'
a Washington topic with a regex of 'wash'

and so on. Then, by default, a user gets all messages, but if she
subscribes to the Sacramento topic and also elects to receive posts that
match no topic, she will receive posts whose Subject: contains ...sac...
and those whose Subject : matches none of the topic regexes (keywords),
but not posts with ...wash..., etc. in the Subject:

Other ways to do this are umbrella lists and sibling lists.

See the FAQs at <http://wiki.list.org/x/4030574> and
<http://wiki.list.org/x/4030540>. Also, see
<http://wiki.list.org/x/8683547>.


> Another thing that is important for me is I do NOT want to archive or cache
> messages, at least for not much more than a day.


Archiving is a list option which is generally on by default, but easily
turned off.


> I will also wish to add some type of disclaimer that no one will probably
> give it much thought, but it will state that statements made are the of the
> sole responsibility of the author of the statement and they are not the
> official opinion of the corporation nor the union and the maintainer of the
> list does not archive messages. I'm sure I'll come up with much better
> wording than that but I'm sure you get the gist.


Mailman can add a header and/or a footer to each message with any text
you want.


> I'm just hoping I've found the right product and can receive some advice
> from those that have set up lists.


I think Mailman can do what you want. We are here to help.

-- 
Mark Sapiro <mark at msapiro.net>        The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan