Re: [seul-edu] Mail list versus UUNET newgroup

[Douglas Loss <drloss@suscom.net>]

Stephen C. Daukas wrote:

> 
> I wasn't thinking "web" - I was thinking good old nntp, which can be 
> set-up to allow postings by a select group, but can be read by anyone 
> who wants to subscribe...  (One can even use sendmail settings to 
> limited access on some nntp servers and this could also be setup to do 
> both nntp and smtp at the same time.)
> 

I used to be a dedicated USEnaut, but if I look at a newsgroup once 
every few months these days I'd be surprised.  I think that's the case 
with a lot of folks since newsgroups have become so spam-filled and 
since the "endless September" effect took hold years ago.


> Taking this approach would actually save bandwidth for those who pay a 
> high-cost connection fee:  just subscribe to what you are interested in 
> and avoid downloading the rest.  We did at a former employer of mine 
> years ago...  Not sure how they do it now, but we had thousands of 
> subscribers (members) and used email with archive, as well as web, as 
> well as nntp.
> 

The problem would be that a web forum would just be an extra script 
running on our existing web server, while NNTP newsgroups would 
require an entire new app to run.  I haven't run INN for years, but as 
I recall it was fairly resource-intensive.  I'd have to see how many 
of our users would prefer it to either email or web before I could 
make a case for it.

-- 
Doug Loss          As long as I have you there is just
drloss@suscom.net  one other thing I'll always need--
(570) 326-3987     tremendous self control.
                           Ashleigh Brilliant