[consulting] the Ultimate forum based Malinglist Manager

[Dan Robinson]

>>Your point is well taken - but the idea of having "established
>>standards" seems like a showstopper.  Also what you will wind up with
>>are some tools you can use to write some more code.  My personal opinion
>>is that there are no silver bullets here at all - just a lot of
>>choices.
>>    
>>
>
>Based on Ber's opening statements, my impression was just the opposite.
>  
>
If I understand Ber correctly he is proposing a sprint to write some
code  - I assume that this code will actually do something - in other
words not just be a set of tools or APIs - if that is the case then this
effort will have to take a particular path which will effectively make a
bunch of very static decisions regarding the implementation.  I am
saying that your call for interoperable standards is a showstopper -
this is a case where you would be writing a standards based set of APIs
or tools that would have NO implementation options.  In this case - IMHO
- there is very little or no advantage to pursuing a "standards" strategy.

>  
>
>>We'll pursue a MLM specific solution (ezmlm)
>>    
>>
>
>See, already there is splintering.  You are persuing ezmlm and CivicSpace is 
>persuing Sympa.
>  
>
err.... Are you sure?  I think they just played around with Sympa - I
don't believe they are doing anything more with it.

>  
>
>>and leave open  
>>the possibility of integrating other MLM's (or Drupal code) - however
>>there will be no guarantee that another MLM will be adaptable to the
>>code - because it may not have an adaptable interface (for example I
>>have no idea if Mailman will be able to easily "slot into" the
>>solution).
>>    
>>
>
>And this is the one I'm interested in.
>  
>
Right - so what do you want that will work with Mailman?  If I remember
correctly Mailman (written in python) has an API and a DB structure -
however it is doubtful that a hosting provider will allow you access to
this.

>  
>
>>So what do you propose to actually produce? 
>>    
>>
>
>Actually, I'm not really sure.  I was under the impression that this was the 
>beginnings of the ground work and that no specific implementations were being 
>discussed (except for the fact that there are some who are already persuing 
>it on their own).
>  
>
The issue is - imho - that there *is no way* to come up with a really
general solution to this problem.

>  
>
>>What "standards 
>>compliant" software are you referring to?
>>    
>>
>
>Mostly, I'm referring to RFCs.  While I realize there aren't a lot for 
>governing MLMs, there are some.
>  
>
My limited understanding of the RFCs are that they cover behavior of the
MLM wrt mail headers and possibly responses - I looked once long ago.  
They don't go anywhere near defining the behavior etc.  As far as I know
there are no *standards* nor anyway to come up with a one-size-fits-all
solution.