All posts in the topic [NTEN Discuss] Re: ISO: A good email list service (Short link)
(GS-NGOGOV: A reply to a discussion available from here: http://groups.nten.org/group.htm?mode=home&igid=6422 ) If folks are looking for a GPL open source Google Groups/YahooGroups killer, check out: http://www.groupserver.org You can get a hosted solution (domain.onlinegroups.net or your own domain) here: http://onlinegroups.net E-Democracy.Org uses GroupServer here: http://forums.e-democracy.org I also use it here: http://groups.dowire.org I should note that we are encouraging other non-profits to join us in building feature momentum to help the New Zealand developers move from .9 beta to 1.0. On our E-Democracy.Org install you can experience a number of features not yet released in the downloadable code .9. In 1997, I first wrote about the need for a tool that optimally combined e-mail lists and web forums. Efforts to encourage better web views (archives) to the Mailman developer community typically came back with flames saying "it's a mail list" and posts to PHPBB turned up it's a "web forum" (although there is now a Mail2Forum plug-in). The reality our non-profit faces is that half our Issues Forum users hate e-mail and half hate the web but we need to convene them in one virtual space. I finally found what I was looking for about three years ago on a speaking trip to New Zealand - I recall saying "you mean web feeds are native." If it wasn't for the Drupal hegemony in the non-profit world perhaps projects like DGroups (http://wikis.bellanet.org/floss-dgroups ) and others might have jumped into this Zope-based tool because it actually delivers today and has serious feature momentum. A few things that GroupServer does for us: 1. Allows us to insert the name and city from our member directory along with a link to a member profile page at the bottom of every e-mail. This helps us build "who is this" trust. We also technologically limit the number of posts per person in 24 hours to objectively keep message volume in check and encourage more deliberation and broader participation. 2. File sharing - Files - photos, doc, etc. - can be uploaded via the web (and tagged) or attached via e-mail. As a bandwidth saver, file links are inserted to allow downloading via the web (ideal for the development community). I do want to fund a feature that will add thumbnails of images right into the web view as well as automatically take YouTube links and insert players. 3. Linear Topics - Before GMail figured this out, GroupServer created linear archives with a good system to hide excess quoting in the web view. Works great. The "topic digest" is a daily e-mail with links avoiding long e-mail digests with repeat content. Ultimately, those who care about empowering communities will see the virtue in building developer community momentum for open source tools that actually allow people to communicate and organize based on their preference. Blending Internet 1.0 realism (before one-way Web 1.0 B.S. hit the scene in the mid-90s) with Web 2.0 is a huge open source need that cannot be left solely in proprietary hands. We do have a yet t0 active group of GroupServer supporters from the non-profit and e-government community gathering here: http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/gs-ngogov Cheers, Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
Posting
Only members who are logged in can post, and you are not logged in.