Appropedia:Newsletter/Software and setup   

[edit] What package?

These are just ideas - the main thing is to get it happening, and perfect the process later ("Worse is better").

We want:

• collaborative - as open as possible (though the wiki will be used for at least part of it - e.g. jotting ideas)
• good UX (user experience) pretty, easy layout
• easy subscription management

Options:

• Google Groups - This is the one option we could do immediately with almost no work. It provides RSS feeds for the content, so that might prove helping in porting the data to other more searchable formats.
• A WordPress plugin - MailPress is a new one, with mostly good reviews.
  • How is editing done? Can we do it collaboratively - openly, even? Wiki page for ideas, anyway.
• Dreamhost's announcement list - but having trouble giving access to manage the list, except by giving full access to the server.
• Our Drupal site, using http://forum.appropedia.org/admin/content/newsletters/types (note the Drupal site is not active apart from the donations page - Drupal is often challenging and suffers glitches, so this could be a demanding option.
  • How does it work? (I can't make it do anything - Chriswaterguy)
• Installing a package:

• phplist^W - many good features, including HTML. Installing requires server access - not sure if it would then have the same issues as Dreamhost's own list, for the management of the list.
• Mailman: We have Mailman installed, for discussion lists, but are not using it. Again there is a server access problem, and it's much less user-friendly than Google Groups for discussion lists (less of an issue for newsletters). It can be set up to only allow posting by the owner, which makes it a newsletter. [http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2005-October/046921.html HTML is apparently possible.

• On the wiki, using the email all users feature. This is not an option:

• Subscribing requires registration on the wiki.
• Easy collaboration, easy archiving on the wiki.
• Not the best layout features, but passable.
• Still need subscription management, and a sending method that allows the formatted content to be pasted and sent.
• All up, too many problems.

• Other...?

• CiviCRM?

[edit] Meeting anti-spam guidelines

Dreamhost's guidelines are essential if using a Dreamhost server, and good practice regardless. An old discussion from 2005 says:

A good rule of thumb is to not send more than 500-750 messages per hour. The actual limit is subject to change and is higher than that. Sticking to that limit will keep you safe. We generally try to let you do what you need to do on our servers as long as it doesn't interfere with other users. Bulk email very regularly interferes with other users so it is officially unsupported. It is still allowed, but we won't guarantee any sort of performance level for it. It will work fine most of the time still, of course.

This 2006 blog says 100 per hour. Need to ask on Dreamhost forum? I think we can raise it from 100/hr to 500/hr, if we can show IPs and proof of opt-in for each of the recipients (not an easy task).