Managing Mailing Lists

Rating:
Summary: Great book -- several typos -- indispensible info
Review: A great book! This book covers both server and list administration for Listproc, Majordomo, SmartList, and LISTSERV Lite. It starts of by covering the basics of an email message and a mailing list, and what mailing list software does. It even covers how you can do some basic mailing list functions with sendmail without using an MLM (Mailing List Manager). While the software this book covers are mostly UNIX-specific, this book is a must-have for anyone wanting to install and run mailing list management software. In one book you can see the different features of the leading UNIX-based MLM's, and get an honest appraisal of their relative strengths and weaknesses. You may have already have decided on one MLM, but this book may change your mind!

Not just for server administrators, this book covers all the issues with respect to managing a mailing list. Learn about how to run a moderated list, or how to offer a digested version of your list. This book is also well laid out -- with multiple "layers". As you read on things are covered in greater detail. The last chapters are an in-depth reference for the commands and features of each MLM covered.

Rating:
Summary: Great.. useful for new or more experienced list managers
Review: A great book! This book covers both server and list administration for Listproc, Majordomo, SmartList, and LISTSERV Lite. It starts of by covering the basics of an email message and a mailing list, and what mailing list software does. It even covers how you can do some basic mailing list functions with sendmail without using an MLM (Mailing List Manager). While the software this book covers are mostly UNIX-specific, this book is a must-have for anyone wanting to install and run mailing list management software. In one book you can see the different features of the leading UNIX-based MLM's, and get an honest appraisal of their relative strengths and weaknesses. You may have already have decided on one MLM, but this book may change your mind!

Not just for server administrators, this book covers all the issues with respect to managing a mailing list. Learn about how to run a moderated list, or how to offer a digested version of your list. This book is also well laid out -- with multiple "layers". As you read on things are covered in greater detail. The last chapters are an in-depth reference for the commands and features of each MLM covered.

Rating:
Summary: Quite useful!
Review: I bought this book because I needed to familiarize myself with ListProc, Listserve and Majordomo, all 3 of which are used at my University. I got just what I needed. This book covers everything you need to know about these, plus it has some extras which help round out the book. I became convinced that SmartList was useful for my home system, and have installed it, and I also enjoyed some of the articles posted in the book.

My only coplaint about this book was the lack of clarity regarding email headers (which came up pretty often throughout). I supposed I should have read the intro chapter more closely. Still, it really wasn't hard to follow along the book. I enjoyed this book much and can't wait to see the Second Edition. :)

Rating:
Summary: Quite useful!
Review: I bought this book because I needed to familiarize myself with ListProc, Listserve and Majordomo, all 3 of which are used at my University. I got just what I needed. This book covers everything you need to know about these, plus it has some extras which help round out the book. I became convinced that SmartList was useful for my home system, and have installed it, and I also enjoyed some of the articles posted in the book.

My only coplaint about this book was the lack of clarity regarding email headers (which came up pretty often throughout). I supposed I should have read the intro chapter more closely. Still, it really wasn't hard to follow along the book. I enjoyed this book much and can't wait to see the Second Edition. :)

Rating:
Summary: Essential for Majordomo list administrators
Review: I don't know about the other MLMs described in this book, but if you must administer a Majordomo mailing list, this book is essential. You should also subscribe to the majordomo users list and the list moderator's list (if that applies to you) at GreatCircle.com too, but for having the information you need about how to set up the config files and the users etc for generating digests and so on, this book is quite useful. However, it has some shortcomings - not much information about setting up web archives, or dealing with MIME, etc. And there is nothing at all about Mailman, the other heavyweight mailing list manager. Perhaps an update is due that covers Mailman?

Rating:
Summary: Great book -- several typos -- indispensible info
Review: I needed to get a listserver up and running in two weeks... I knew perl and linux... O'Reilly came to the rescue.

Managing Mailing Lists helped me choose the right MLM, install it, and configure it with little to no hassle. I would like to have seen the book focus on majordomo solely, since the others probably have software manuals and are supported by their vendors. But the info was adequate, and the other chapters on LISTSERV, ListProc, and SmartList helped thicken the book up so that it fits nicely on my O'Reilly bookshelf..

The book had quite a few typos, some contradictions, and even some misprints that downright hosed up performance and functionality. But once I got through the installation, I was able to go back and easily spot the errors, as the book does a good job explaining the what's and why's of its code. (if the editor reads this, please contact me for a list of corrections for the next edition)

As far as I know it's the only book on majordomo. With a step by step approach (a simple method I wish more books would follow these days) and great hints and tips (BTW, excellent loop-check script incl.) this book gets a 4/5 from me. Typos on critical info/code knocks a point. Second ed. should remedy that... *-)

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat narrow
Review: I really hate to give what is a basically negative review to ANY O'Reilly book. However, the focus of this volume -- entirely on four free UNIX mailing list packages -- falls short in two ways: 1. With the exception of LISTSERV, it totally neglects the commercial sphere of mailing list software. Not liking commercial packages is okay; pretending they don't exist, or that there might not be excellent reasons to use one is not. I run two mid-size lists for a non-profit on a commercial web-based service (Onelist, recently become E-list) and felt the omission of this option (even if I do pay for these by including their ads) would be a disservice for anyone just getting started with mailing lists. Just as there are plenty of users for whom Windows is just fine (Linux is not for everyone -- yet), not everyone who runs mailing lists needs to use UNIX freeware. 2. I would like to have seen some sample FAQs. In my experience, running a mailing list is NOT a technical problem, it is a people problem. There is too little in the book addressing that aspect. If you are a sysadmin or ISP deciding which mailing list software you need to provide for free, and how to install it, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat narrow
Review: I really hate to give what is a basically negative review to ANY O'Reilly book. However, the focus of this volume -- entirely on four free UNIX mailing list packages -- falls short in two ways: 1. With the exception of LISTSERV, it totally neglects the commercial sphere of mailing list software. Not liking commercial packages is okay; pretending they don't exist, or that there might not be excellent reasons to use one is not. I run two mid-size lists for a non-profit on a commercial web-based service (Onelist, recently become E-list) and felt the omission of this option (even if I do pay for these by including their ads) would be a disservice for anyone just getting started with mailing lists. Just as there are plenty of users for whom Windows is just fine (Linux is not for everyone -- yet), not everyone who runs mailing lists needs to use UNIX freeware. 2. I would like to have seen some sample FAQs. In my experience, running a mailing list is NOT a technical problem, it is a people problem. There is too little in the book addressing that aspect. If you are a sysadmin or ISP deciding which mailing list software you need to provide for free, and how to install it, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Not a lot of help
Review: I wouldn't recommend this book to anybody trying to set up a mailing list. This would be more appropriate in the hands of some manager who just wants a quick rundown on how e-mail works and then hire someone to set up a mailing list for him/her.

Through all the pages of the text, this book didn't provide any useful information on setting up mailing lists. The author is vague and never focuses on any mailing list manager program, instead he just gives little facts on all different ones. One cannot possibly set up a mailing list from the info in this book.

Often the book would raise questions and leave them unanswered. He would describe certain problems with mailing lists (i.e. malicious attacks, susceptibility to human errors), but it was up to you and a lot of web surfing to find out how to solve these problems.

Not the kind of text I would expect O'Reilly to print.

Rating:
Summary: The book provides a guide to choosing and using a UNIX MLM
Review: The book covers all aspects of setting up and maintaining a mailing list, from writing the charter to troubleshooting message bounces. Moderated lists, digests, access control, archives, and web interfaces are all discussed. In addition to providing general guidance in choosing mailing list management (MLM) software and designing lists, the book specifically details the installation and operation of four free Unix MLMs: Majordomo, Listserv LITE, Listproc, and SmartList, from the standpoint of both the list manager and the system administrator.