On Fri, 5 Oct 2001, Juan Carlos Vega wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am part of a small non-profit based on Washington, D.C. that is
> starting to be known in many parts of the U.S. and we are very
> interested in creating a mailing list.  I am aware of Majordomo and
> LISTSERV, and know that the mailing list runs through them, but not
> sure how it works.  Several questions:
>
> 1) Are Majordomo and LISTSERV software packages?

Yes. Majordomo and Listserv are competing packages. Both are designed to
manage mailing lists. You posted these questions on the LSTOWN-L list. The
LSTOWN-L list pertaining only to Listserv, not Majordomo.

> 2) I believe they are software, but where and how do they run?  We do
> not have a server in our office and depend on an Internet Provider
> (E-Link), how will that work?  Does it run from one of the computers
> in our office?

Like all software, they run on computers, of course. For your purposes,
you would see out someone who is already running a Listserv or Majordomo
server to see if they would volunteer to host your list. The company that
write's the Listserv software, L-Soft, Inc. also hosts lists, but for a
feee. See http://www.lsoft.com/ for extensive info about Listserv and
hosting/purchasing options.

> 3) How much work is involved in running a mailing list?  Do you need
> somebody monitoring everything, specially the subscribing and
> unsubscribing of members?

For the most part, maintaining a list on Majordomo or Listserv requires
little work from a technical standpoint. If you want to restrict the
list to a certain set of people, then you'll need to approve and closely
manage subscription requests. As for managing the discource that occurs
on the list, that can require very little or very heavy effort, but it
depends on the nature of the list. For example, a list that's intended
for use only to post organizational announcements would require very
little time and effort. A list that's intended to discuss a topic that is
very emotional might require a lot of effort to manage its subscribers.
Certainly at least one owner of the list should subscribe to it.

> 4) At this moment, we will probably start with a mailing list of about
> 300 people but expected to double easily, would that be a problem?
> Are there limits to the number of people that can be subscribed?

There are no technical limits. A list with 600 subscribers is considered
by many to be fairly small. We have some lists with 50,000 subscribers
here and other organizations have lists with many more times that amount.

> I hope I am not sounding too ignorant but although I belong to several
> mailing lists, I have never ran one.  Your help will be appreciated.

No problem Carlos. You asked very intelligent questions. You have to learn
somewhere. Let me know if you want to move forward with your list. I might
be able to host it for you at no charge, but I would need more information
from you before a decision can be made in that regard.