"free" list provider (was: Re: Is there a problem with the mailing list

[spir]

>   *From:* Geoffrey De Belie<computergeoffrey at zoho.com>
> *Sent:* Monday, June 18, 2012 12:54:26 AM
> *To:* Jean-Pierre Vidal Piesset<jpxsat at gmail.com>
> *CC:* lubuntu-new<lubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> *Subject:* Re: Is there a problem with the mailing list?
>
> "And +1 to the "We need something like Google Groups""
>
> What alternatives are there to Google Groups? And does the other members of
> the mailing list also agree with me?

There's free-list: http://www.freelists.org/

They are a free list hosting service (in all senses of free, as in free 
software). Their service is psecialised and reserved to "science & technology" 
discussion groups; there is even a "Linux & JUNIX" category of lists (see 
http://www.freelists.org/lists.html). For all those reasons, I guess it is a 
perfect match for a lubuntu mailing list. See also below quote of their "about" 
page ().
What do you think?

PS: I have long searched for such a service, exactly, and free-lists is the only 
one I have ever found. A breath of fresh air... (esp when coming from 
google/yahoo). Don't know why it is not more well known. Do you?

Denis

About free-lists:

<<
So what's this all about?

FreeLists provides the internet community with Free, no-hassle, high-quality 
mailing lists. We don't use advertisements and we don't charge for 
higher-than-a-certain-volume lists. That means you don't have to worry about too 
many people signing up, nor the amount of traffic on your list(s). FreeLists is 
about just getting the message across to your subscribers.
What's that Free thing all about? (Our philosophy)

FreeLists is a completely Free service. We're not talking just about price here. 
See, there's a philosophy behind FreeLists: Knowledge and Information are free, 
and should stay that way. Our service is about maintaining that objective.

FreeLists runs a completely free service on completely Free software. The Linux 
operating system, the Apache webserver, and the Ecartis mailing manager are 
responsible for bringing FreeLists to you daily. Mhonarc and Swish-E work in 
conjunction to bring you the web-based archives. All of this software is Free 
software and we italicize that word over and over again to emphasize its 
importance. See the Free Software Foundation's website for more information.

So if knowledge and information is so free, why the limit on the scope of list 
topics? That was an arbitrary decision on our part. We do have limited 
bandwidth, and we can't afford (this whole thing comes out of our own pockets, 
you know) to fill it up with things like "Lucy's Tips on Fingernail Polishing at 
the Bus Stop."
Can I help?

A service like ours is expensive to run. Please make a donation whenever you can 
afford to. Funds raised go to bandwidth fees, hardware maintenance, and funding 
development on the services we provide.

If you've got any suggestions on how to run the place, we're open for whatever 
you've got-- especially web design critiqes and that sort of thing.

We need help with documentation. If you're experienced with the LSG/2 interface 
that comes with Ecartis (what our web interface is based on), or have a good 
understanding of mailing lists and their usage, please see our Help section and 
see if there's anything you can contribute.

Of course, the biggest thing you can do to help is to get a list of your own, 
start loading it up with subscribers, and then let us know how we can improve 
the service. Every little bit helps.

-The FreeLists Staff
>>