Wow, in decades of helping people use mailing lists, I don't think I've ever been asked anything but "Will it do what I want?", "How much does it cost?", "Are there ads?", and "Is it easy to use?" ... though I admit to never talking to anyone expecting more than 20,000 subscribers ... most thought 25 or 100 or 1,000 was a lot and that's why they were investigating an electronic mailing list. ;-) cheers, wayne On 8/12/07, Pete Weiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > If you do change host/ISPs, here are some things to consider. Some > additional issues relate to virtual hosting, DNS configs, whitelisting that > your customers may need to do. > > /Pete > > -- > > > Off the top of my head (and in no particular order): > > Questions (some may overlap): > > how many customers do they have > what percentage are paying customers > how many lists are hosted > how many subscriptions do they have on all lists > who is their backup / disaster recovery providor > what are their hours of customer service > how long have they been in business > do have have a UPS and generator > how long can they operate > what are they doing to filter spam and viruses > what are their rates for service > what forums do they provide for customer help > what is their service level agreement [SLA] > what is the contract period > what are the separate roles customers can delegate e.g., owner, moderator > what kinds of list administrative functions do they provide for error / > bounce / subscription handling > have they produced any whitepapers, best practices documents, or case > studies > how scalable is their solution > how secure is their installation (do they have active intrusion detection) > how reliable is their service > what interface does one user to maintain the list > what interface does subscriber use to self-maintain their options > do they support moderated broadcast lists like TVC-Alert > can any one of several moderators approve a message > what method do they use to prevent spoofing so that only authorized > posters may transmit > who are their closest competitors > what is their thruput rate for mail delivery > how do they handle blocked (client) mail servers > what services do they offer to customize mailings > do they have any "measurement" services for determining email response > rates > what do they do "better" than L-Soft's LISTSERV(R) solutions? > what are their confirmed opt-in procedures that prevent subscription > spoofing > > Just FYI: > > > http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=%22mailing+list+software%22+features&btnG=Search > > http://www.lsoft.com/resources/wp-licensing.pdf > > http://www.lsoft.com/resources/wp-emaillistintro.pdf > > http://www.lsoft.com/resources/wp-emaildeliverability.pdf > > (c) 2007 Peter M. Weiss >