Post in [NTEN Discuss] Re: ISO: A good email list service

2007 Jun 13 17:06 UTC

(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