I wanted to alert folks here to a newer online group specifically about GroupServer development. Join it here: http://groupserver.org/groups/development This where E-Democracy.Org folks are adding their two cents to the continued advancement of this excellent tool. Cheers, Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
(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
Hey there Brian. At E-Democracy.Org we remain bullish on GroupServer. We are working with OnlineGroups.Net to move to the .9+ version of GroupServer and with that you'll see lots of improvements in the platform we use. The files area has received the most work over from a user perspective. You can also see my own use of GroupServer here: http://groups.dowire.org A few months ago E-Democracy.Org submitted a pre-proposal to a foundation that requested it on how GroupServer could be further enhanced for democracy building purposes. Unfortunately, despite their positive interest, that foundation shifted gears on how it funds open source projects (no longer funding tools outside the context of projects I think) overall. We remain a GroupServer user, but as they say you've got to pay to play if you really want to shape a technology (or be coders yourself which we are not). So, we are very very interested in connecting with other potential users and building up the demand (with resources) for further feature development that will benefit us all. Cheers, Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
Hi Brian, > I am from Amnesty International, we have been using Yahoo! Groups for a while now but are trying to switch. > > What do you all think about groupserver, do you like it? Well I do, but then I would, as I am part of the group that built GroupServer. In fact, we originally started the project because we wanted something that had the functionality of Yahoo! Groups but with the following differences. 1. No ads, not Yahoo!'s and not their customers'. 2. A cleaner, more usable interface with easier registration. 3. The ability to integrate email groups with a web forum interface into a completely customisable website. I would, of course be very happy to answer any questions that you have. The best way to check out the latest features of GroupServer is to start a site and some free trial groups at OnlineGroups.Net. http://onlinegroups.net
Hi there, I am from Amnesty International, we have been using Yahoo! Groups for a while now but are trying to switch. What do you all think about groupserver, do you like it?
Hi Folks in this group, As Steve says, you can host your own GroupServer site on a relatively standard server (details at http://groupserver.org). My company has IOPEN (http://iopen.net) do all our hosting. We think they are good - but then we would because we have designed and built GroupServer together with them. Happy to answer any questions you have. cheers Dan Randow GroupSense
Welcome everyone. While E-Democracy is hosting this "we love groupserver" online group, we are only hosting official E-Democracy online groups on this install. However, I am also using it at http://forum.dowire.org and Tim Erickson has a version at http://discuss.politalk.org Anyone can download the code and install it for their own use or you can contract with the IOPEN and GroupSense folks if you need special help. See: http://groupserver.org Once this group builds up over 20 members, I'll kick in with a round of introductions. Cheers, Steven Clift
Ditto, ditto. This is exciting, truly. Congratulations. Similar ulterior motive: I'm currently investigating options for a nonprofit
Dear Steven et al, Many thanks for starting hosting services. Can you advise me how to go about hosting for an NGO? Kris Dev, Tr-Ac Net, Chennai.