List Servers

[Glenn9999]

I have a requirement that I'm trying to research and I'll admit I know next to nothing about it. So I'm asking.

I'm in a situation where I need to counsel a group on what to do to make something happen.

What they need, whether it be manually or automatically (preferably automatically):
1) Be able to broadcast e-mails as an "owner" to 200-300 addresses. Only the configured list owner should be able to broadcast to this list.
2) Be able to do a small list discussion or two for coordination purposes where anyone can broadcast to the list.
3) Handle optin and optout messages for both #1 and #2 easily - I'd rather this stuff be handled online than offline.
4) And preferably there needs to be the option of having approval of the owner for optin on most if not all these options.

Like I say, I know next to nothing about these things, so I'm looking for advice.

Is this something they can run in-house, or is it going to need to be something on a direct Internet server? What kind of software would be a good suggestion?

 

[rvnguy]

Glenn9999,

You did not specify if this client has their own mail server or is using some hosting method for mail or?

If hosted, many have tools for what you are describing; mail lists etc.

If they have their own Server for mail you might see the link for management apps or search for additional candidates.

Please describe "small list discussion"?

Management Software

http://www.silverpop.com/whatweoffer/technology/listmanagement/optin_optout.html

Hope This Provides Some Insight.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[Glenn9999]

I don't know a lot of the details, yet, but as far as what they have, I'm looking for something that can be done on one of the client machines, not necessarily rent time on someone's internet server (they have web space right now, but that's it).

Something that perhaps can operate locally as a e-mail program would, but would poll an account for new mail, bring it in, and then act upon it accordingly (in the way of optin/optout messages - like I said I'd rather this be automatic so no one cries about spam when optouts are lost/not processed fast enough). Then if there's a message that needs broadcast, the message should be able to be written, then this program should send the message to all the addresses in the list.

"small list discussion": something where a message could be sent to one address, then it get broadcasted to a small number of addresses. A way for coordination for the groups within the organization, basically.

But like I said, I know next to nothing on this, for technical matters, so I'm asking here. I have found a couple of options in research, but they seem suited for a true internet server as opposed to a client network. I'm sure I'll find out more and will learn more too once I get to talk with some people that know things in this organization.

 

[rvnguy]

Glenn9999,

Well, when you determine what they currently have, you should post back.

If they are emailing now, they have some type of email account; Could be a web mail account i.e. msn, yahoo, gmail etc.
If they have a web site that is hosted, they could be receiving mail through this portal(POP3, SMTP etc).
Or they may have a full server with a mail server.

Optin/out would require a form(included with email) and generally would transfer to a .com site to make selection. So find out if they have a site & name and how this is setup.

Post Back

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all