[consulting] the Ultimate forum based Malinglist Manager

[Dan Robinson]

We worked on a project called CivicGroups a year ago
<http://dev.civicactions.net/?q=node/136> and you can find the rationale
here <http://dev.civicactions.net/?q=civicgroups>.  This site is pretty
much dormant right now and soon to be retired (too much other work to do
:( ).  This code is actually in production and working on a number of
sites.  The solution in this case was to extend the
mailhandler/listhandler combination and better integrate the list
itself.  Essentially we stopped going down this path because managing
multiple lists was really not going to work that effectively.

We're reviving the effort and will hopefully begin coding "real soon
now" :) - the gist of the solution is:

- Put all the configuration and management in one place
- Make it simple to drive from organic groups
- Allow the end-user basic configuration capability
- Integrate with ezmlm for mail delivery

Any solution must address the following questions -

* How is the subscriber list maintained and by whom?
* How does the mail get to the MTA?
* If an external mail list manager is employed how is it managed?
* How are double-opt in's handled?
* How do you allow single click opt-out?
* How are bounces handled?

My "quickie" guide to solution sets is:

Drupal Only Solution
    pro:
          It's just Drupal
    con:
          It's a lot of code to write - you have to write a mail list
manager from scratch
          You have to deal with sending mail from PHP during an HTTP
request (or you have to queue the mail for later sends - see PHPList)

Mailhandler/Listhandler
    pro:
          It already exists
    con:
          Subscribe/unsubscribe is not integrated
          Setting up multiple lists is a drag and is done by hand
          dependent on external mail list handler

PHPList
    pro:
       It already exists
       It deals with queuing outbound emails
       It deals with bounces, subscribe, unsubscribe etc.
    con:
       It isn't integrated into Drupal (see Massmailer for an attempt at
this)
       There is no forum capability
       PHPList isn't a mailing list manager - it is an outbound email
marketing list manager
       It is relatively slow to send outbound email

CiviMail
    pro:
       It already exists
       It deals with queuing outbound emails
       It deals with bounces, subscribe, unsubscribe etc.
       It is integrated into Drupal (through CiviCRM)
    con:
       There is no forum capability
       CiviMail isn't a mailing list manager - it is an outbound email
marketing list manager

The solution we are pursuing will employ ezmlm to deal with the mail and
subscriber issues - we will create drupal code (that will talk directly
to the ezmlm mysql tables) - that and a little shell scripting and we
should be all set :).

Dan

> My goodness,
>  I would love to test any code that is available.
>  We have alot of work to do to catch up with groupserver.org/features
>  Being that its Zope/Plone though... its REALLY not for every server!
>
>  I am crossing my fingers for something that allows various levels of
> subscription like yahoo groups... you know.. recieve emails, html
> emails, digests, or NO email at all...
>  People are used to this functionality.
>  As of now I am planning on copying the code from drupalart.org and
> putting it in a <?php snippet that hides it from the public non-group
> members on the homepage of each group.  That way atleast the group
> members can sign up and cancel their mailing list subscriptions from
> the group homepage for mailman which seems to be a robust enough
> solution..
>  I am interested to try the sympa integration unless someone lets me
> know its no longer being pursued..
>
>  I know that organic groups is being developed actively and already
> has alot of features that make it an elegant and unique solution.. not
> to mention drupal civicspace which is overflowing with features you
> cant find anywhere.  groupserver.org just seems to have the
> forum-email thing wrapped up in a nice single package that makes me a
> little jealous...
>
> let me know how I can help,
> thanks,
> ryan
> thefractal.org
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