Mailing list

Gents, I could do with some help seeing if google groups is a good alternative for our mailing list please

N.B. THIS SYSTEM IS NOT YET LIVE - TESTING for admin

• Currently the correct information is at https://wiki.richmondmakerlabs.uk/index.php/Contact for member

Note/ questions for admins when testing (or notes for andy as he learns it)

My plan for migrating members(comments please) as per "Migration from the old list" below

• Hopefully no more than 2 emails to the old group.
  • 1 to announce new list is active and give 1 week (?) to move over
  • 1 reminder just before we kill the old system
  • We'll see if we can autoreply from the old list for a period of a month with a standard message to join the new list (text - this message won't be seen etc)
  • Crossover should be short - I'm not going to try to replicate messages across both lists during this period.
  • Google are changing a ton of permissions on May 6th, so we won't go live yet
  • Anyone missed can always join when they see the email later/ speak to us etc

Other options include

• Send everyone on our current list an invite by default (thoughts?)

If you have more than one emails address it would be really helpful if you can set one up as admin and one as a member so you can test how things work yourself (It's easy to remove them later)

• • It may be worth using a different browser for each one if you're not used to switching accounts

Good:

• Is it perfect? No. But
  • it's easier for new people to pick up in the future. Clicking buttons on a webpage is easier that asking people to find the right config file on a server to edit correctly
  • The version of our old system (mailman) hasn't been updated since 2014 and has security vulnerabilities
  • Google knows email better than us

Bad:

• We can turn on approving people to the list but it rather unhelpfully doesn't seem to notify us that someone is pending- we need to regularly check the page that's unrealistic (I think?)
• It does send a notification asking us to approve the person's first message (we can turn this off but I wouldn't) - I need more people testing to see if we all get this.
• It doesn't send a copy of their email to the person sending the email, which the old one used to
• Only people with google accounts can manage the group - though we all have them

What about info@ keyholder@

• I can work something out for those but the people that go to can handle disruption better than our members
• Once the mailing list is going to google groups I can then change the routing for @richmondmakerlabs.uk
  • Perversely I'm not totally ruling out a new instance of mailman (although for these but setting that up fresh for just those is a very different prospect to unpicking the current install and keeping it running during migration.

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END OF ADMIN NOTES will be deleted for members ----------------------

Migration from the old member list

• We're moving the platform for the RML mailing list over to google groups
• You need to actively sign up to the new list - we'd rather you consciously opt in, rather than us adding you.

How to join the mailing list

Though Google Groups

RML Google Groups

• Your first post may be held for moderation so don't worry if it doesn't appear immediately, this is just to prevent spammers
• As this is a new list it's worth checking messages from the group aren't going to your spam.
  • Often adding richmondmakerlabs@googlegroups.com to your address book helps, or sending a message to the group, or marking it as not spam.
    • Ultimately you have to check the advice from your mail provider

Don't want a google account?

• That's ok, you can still subscribe my sending an email to richmondmakerlabs+subscribe@googlegroups.com
• You'll then get an email from google that you need to reply to, just to ensure that someone else isn't signing up on your behalf

Unsubscribe

• You can still unsubscribe yourself by emailing richmondmakerlabs+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

FAQ

Why are we moving to google groups for email

• Keeping mail software running on the server is a maintenance task too great for our small group.

Why would I want a google account for this group

• You can change some settings for the group, such as receiving a digest of messages rather than getting them immediately
• You can post through a webpage and use it more like forum if that's your preference
• You can see previous messages
• You can post without non-admin members seeing your email address, depending on your settings

I can't send attachments

• These are turned off at present- do we want them on? Discuss in the group

What happens when I reply

• Your messages go to the whole group

I hate google and don't want them to have my messages

• It's worth considering that, as other members use gmail, anything you post is already captured on google servers.
• Ultimately the ability of our very small team to manage the admin of RML wins out here. Sorry.

This group is more private than others I'm a member of

• We tend towards respective members privacy and as such
  • The group archive is private, only joined members can view it (with a google account)
  • It's not listed in google's directory
  • We've turned off the ability for members to see other members emails but, if you're posting through emailing (rather than the webpage) people will be able to see your email address then.

I used to get the emails I sent to the group

• I'm afraid this is just one of the things we lose
• You can always check the message was received on the webpage if you have a google account or post asking someone to reply

Etiquette

• Our group tends to be friendly and we haven't tended to need to moderate it before
  • Be kind, be polite
• I have marked the group as Adult though

Who do I contact in case of problems

• Currently Andy (other admins add yourself here please)
• As a last resort you can always use the contact form (top right) and we'll get it sorted

http://www.richmondmakerlabs.uk/

I'm part of another mailing list at RML

• We'll look to move these as well but not yet