frm tuning

>I wonder if there is a list manager that does that? Single
>list, hierarchical subscription control. Then cross posting
>and the resulting duplicates would probably become unnecessary,
>I would assume. I've never had to deal with cross-posting
>though.

Categories. I've ranted about them oh, about 36 times in the
past. There are many, many nice forum packages that do them
and all sorts of amazing other goodies. All it takes is
somebody with know-how and money to set one up, who list
members can trust to back stuff up, and not bend the list to
their own ends.

-Carl

on 4/15/04 5:53 PM, Carl Lumma <clumma@...> wrote:

>> I wonder if there is a list manager that does that? Single
>> list, hierarchical subscription control. Then cross posting
>> and the resulting duplicates would probably become unnecessary,
>> I would assume. I've never had to deal with cross-posting
>> though.
>
> Categories. I've ranted about them oh, about 36 times in the
> past. There are many, many nice forum packages that do them
> and all sorts of amazing other goodies.

Yes, do some or all of these packages support both web and email interfaces?
I personally use the web to update settings and don't mind that at all. I
just want to receive and archive via regular email or some other equivalent.
I suppose if I had a newsgroup client capable of archiving that would be
fine for me too. Or any other interface you like, as long as I have an
off-line archiving mode. In fact it could be web pages for all I care, as
long as I can browse locally, and have sufficient search/sort functionality.

> All it takes is
> somebody with know-how and money to set one up, who list
> members can trust to back stuff up,

Well on this basis it is potentially better to deal with an organization
that hosts the right kind of forum for a living than a person.

-Kurt

> Yes, do some or all of these packages support both web and
> email interfaces?

I feel sure, though the ones I've used only support e-mail
notifications. But there are much more powerful ones than
the ones I've used.

> > All it takes is
> > somebody with know-how and money to set one up, who list
> > members can trust to back stuff up,
>
> Well on this basis it is potentially better to deal with an
> organization that hosts the right kind of forum for a living
> than a person.

I've searched for such an org. in vein. The best solution,
as we seemed to agree the last time we discussed all this,
would be to get a nonprofit and do it under those auspices.
The content of "person" is meaningless. The content of their
pocketbooks and/or web expertise is the important part.

-Carl

on 4/15/04 10:20 PM, Carl Lumma <clumma@...> wrote:

>>> All it takes is
>>> somebody with know-how and money to set one up, who list
>>> members can trust to back stuff up,
>>
>> Well on this basis it is potentially better to deal with an
>> organization that hosts the right kind of forum for a living
>> than a person.
>
> I've searched for such an org. in vein. The best solution,
> as we seemed to agree the last time we discussed all this,
> would be to get a nonprofit and do it under those auspices.
> The content of "person" is meaningless. The content of their
> pocketbooks and/or web expertise is the important part.

Some kind of redundancy and sustainability needs to be clearly built in to
the picture. A single person can become available. Their money can keep
working for them while they are sick or out of town. But either the person
or the money needs to stay available. Having a nonprofit and money doesn't
guarantee much if the person organizing isn't wholly committed to making
something that is sustainable, including in the event of their death.

This means someone else technically capable needs full access to the server
and to the ability to pay the bills for the server.

Would people pay membership dues?

-Kurt