[Edu-sig] REQ: HOWTO mailing lists resources

[Wes Turner]

Mailman list admin resources, scope clarification

Here are the mailman 3 docs:
http://docs.mailman3.org/en/latest/

IDK how much of the mailman 2 docs still apply?
https://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/docs.html

Here's the first result for search("docker mailman")
https://github.com/maxking/docker-mailman

And here are the "Mailman Suite Installation" > "Mailman 3 in Docker" docs:
http://docs.mailman3.org/en/latest/prodsetup.html#mailman-3-in-docker


TBH, securing and upgrading mailing lists is beyond the competencies of
most volunteer-run organizations;
which is one reason that I'd recommend Google Groups or similar for most
organisations.

In my experience, ISPs offer GUI installers for various app on shared
hosting platforms, but upgrades aren't managed in the same GUI; which
requires a volunteer to keep the apps upgraded with at least security
updates.

A VPS and/or container hosting doesn't make upgrading a one-click process;
but sets the bar to where the list admin needs to be competent with SSH and
ideally a configuration management system so that when they hand off admin
responsibilities that organizational knowledge is preserved.

Docker containers are often not secure by default; but can be extended FROM
with commands in the Dockerfile, a shell script, or a configuration
management tool which can apply a secure policy baseline. I haven't
reviewed any of the containers linked here.


Moreso interested to learn of new resources which teach how to contribute
to an existing mailing list.

Google Groups seems much easier for onboarding non-technical people without
needing to forward everything.

As an assumed public context, it may be fair to say that mailing lists
elicit more helpful communications than non-archived email.

On Thursday, August 30, 2018, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>> But where does it teach me TO mailing list?
>> I think that's the real question here.
>>
>>
> Just to clarify what you're asking, here's a use case:
>
> I was a volunteer Clerk of IT for a religious group that conducts business
> on-line but mostly by stowing information at a website, with all the
> headaches of managing logins to control who gets to post where.  Drupal.
>
> My recommendation was we imitate Python.org a lot more by setting up
> mailman listservs with varying degrees of visibility to the public (some
> are members only and so on).  I set up a Google Group by was of
> demonstration and ran it for a couple years.  It's still out there.
>
> The advantage of mail-lists are not only are they searchable but they
> maintain the context and threads of conversation, great for organizational
> memory. However, for historical reason, our clerks prefer to use conference
> calls in real time, with someone taking minutes for the archives.  A lose a
> lot that way.
>
> There's lots more listserv use since my tenure ended, by various interest
> groups, but no centralized place at the regional level for these listservs
> to go, which is probably just fine (we're pretty informal), however I never
> did find how I could get mailman servers installed at our ISP, back when I
> was filing reports and proposals.
>
> Our ISP only offered ancient majordomo as a listserv option, with precious
> little information on how to set one up.
>
> How does one set up a bunch of domain-name specific mail servers ala
> Python's mm3, is that in the ballpark of what you're asking?
>
> Kirby
>
>>
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