Port 25 and Static/Dynamic IP for Listserve SW

[Piper]

Dear Sandy in China:

It seems worth repeating this because a number of discussants have come back
to the suggestion of having someone else host my discussion lists. I would
not be posting this material and I would not have purchased the Linux
machine if Yahoo had met my requirements. Problems with Yahoo started only a
few years ago. I posted them to this list earlier and to Yahoo repeatedly. I
see no reason to expect others hosting lists to do any better than the 
failed
Yahoo hosting.

The remedy IMO is that I (and any others who want to put out ongoing
discussions) host their own listerves for their own private purposes in the
future. So far free web site hosting has encountered no problems I have seen 
but
that too may change. At that time we may have to learn how to host our own
web sites on our own machines.

Your categorization below would seem to indicate that Majordomo is no
different from Express/Evolution if it is used only
as a private "mailing list manager". There are only two additional features
I need on whatever MLM I use: (1) I want automatic sub-unsub; (2) I want
anybody on the list to be able to post to ALL others on the list.

Majordomo does this. So I think all I have to do is ask my computer shop to
configure the Majordomo SW which is now installed on the computer they have.

Presently there are no "port 25" or static/dynamic ip issues with Shaw if I
send out to 50 people on the ABC list in Express (or Evolution). There is
also no problem with Shaw if that list is revealed in the cc field and J Doe
or W Smith  replies to all on the list.

I can therefore see no problem if I send out to ABC list and J Doe replies
via Majordomo unless somehow a static ip address is required. In other words
I simply use Majordomo as I previously used Express or Evolution.

Is this a "commercial" venture? NO. IT IS NOT PUBLIC LIST HOSTING. I
explained that I do not want the legal liability. If J Doe puts his
IHATEPOLITICIANS list on my machine and threatens to blow up the Parliament
Buildings, guess what happens to me? Also, this is not going to make me as
rich as Bill Gates because if I can use Majordomo this way, so can anyone
else. It is there, as free SW just like Ubuntu. Anyone else can pay the cost
of downloading both as I did and then the additional cost of configuring it.

What I will do of course as a public service is tell anyone else freely how
they can go through the same steps I did to set up a private list manager.

China as I understand it is not really part of the world-wide web. Chinese
Internet is a LAN, not a global WAN because of censorship. Those hosting
listserves and web sites here can also legally exercise censorship which may
be part of the Yahoo problem along with hacking etc. What I am doing here
may be helpful in China. In a "politically sensitive" environment as you
have there, individuals can host their own political lists and take full
responsibility for them. Thus the unmoderated list may not be a wise choice
for a private listserve.

PS - I have 2 of my Canadian Constitution sub-lists in the cc field re 
specific constitutional clauses. After co-founding a registered Canadian 
political party in the early 90s, I started this slate of 
constitutional/political lists. The fact that I cannot even post to them now 
is a source of much frustration and a problem which must be solved. When 
technology fails this badly one must suspect political motivation.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sandy Harris" <sandyinchina at gmail.com>
To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions"
<ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 7:09 PM
Subject: Re: Port 25 and Static/Dynamic IP for Listserve SW


> Just to clarify for anyone not up on the terms here.
>
> An MTA (mail transfer agent) handles server-to-server
> mail transfer, SMTP protocol on port 25. Sendmail,
> qmail and postfix are examples.
>
> Client programs -- such as Berkeley Mail, Pine, Mutt,
> Thunderbird or the client in Evolution -- deal with the
> user and hand off mail to an MTA for delivery. This
> can be done on your machine if there's an MTA
> running locally, or they can transfer to a remote
> MTA using a protocol such as POP or IMAP.
>
> Mailing list managers -- such as Majordomo or
> Mailman -- run mailing lists. They also depend
> on an MTA for their input and output. I think in
> this case it has to be a local MTA, but I could
> be wrong.
>
> Every ISP runs an MTA for its customers. Most
> customers will get mail from that with POP or
> IMAP and hand their outgoing mail to it for
> delivery.
>
> The ISP may also (possibly for an extra fee)
> let customers run their own MTAs which are
> set up to relay everything through the ISP's
> MTA. The term "smarthost" is used; I'm hazy
> one exactly what it means.
>
> The simplest solution for you is to go to a
> company that specialises in hosting, and
> pay them to register some domain such
> as "pumpkineater.com" and run a server
> for it with mailman plus some MTA and a
> web server. That gives you everything you
> need, including an automated web archive
> of the mailing list(s).
>
> An alternative is to talk to your ISP. They
> may do hosting and be able to provide
> those services. Or they may support a
> smarthost solution where you run both
> a mailing list manager and an MTA on
> your server.
>
> Just trying to run your own MTA without
> smarthosting (that is, without piping
> everything through the ISP MTA) is
> likely to cause problems. Spammers
> do that, firing off messages to mail
> servers from dynamic IP addresses.
> It is therefore common both for ISPs
> to block outgoing connections to Port
> 25 and for recipient servers to refuse
> messages from dynamic IP addresses.
>
> -- 
> Sandy Harris,
> Quanzhou, Fujian, China
>
> -- 
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