Free email forum infrastructure and related services (as far as I can
tell). Start your own forum!
It is a truism that there are no free lunches, but there may be an
near exception to this rule. When I first got interested in the net the
main stumbling block was to find a server willing to run the email forums I
had in mind. This took lots of negotiations, some of them delicate. In the
end I found some congenial university servers which were accommodating,
including that of my own university. I was also initially daunted by a
belief that I would need technical skills I did and do not have, but I soon
discovered that not much tecchie know-how is required, and people are
available to give advice and are usually glad to help. Over the years I
have been instrumental, directly or indirectly, in setting up more than a
dozen email forums (the main ones are listed above). People often ask me
how to find a base for a new email forum they would like to set up, and,
until now, I did not always have an answer.
There were certain limitations to the services I found available,
most of which are widely supported among academics and professional people,
e.g., no commercial activities. My colleague, Ian Pitchford, and I found
this restrictive, so we found a congenail and inexpensive commercial
provider of web space which also allowed us to run unlimited email forums,
as well. This costs very little for what we get, but it does cost
(information available from him - [log in to unmask] - or me) and
does require some technical skills (which Ian has). So we set up an
extensive web site:
http://www.human-nature.com
I have today found a service which, as far as I can tell, provides
support for email forums absolutely free, along with complete technical
back-up, so I am passing the information on. I cannot vouch for them, but I
have read their conditions with some care, and they seem to contain no
hitches. Well, perhaps there is one: they can, after consultation, add
commercial messages at the head and foot of emails. I have no idea what
that would entail, but if I got the service for free, I guess I would not
begrudge them that right. Such messages appear on all sorts of web sites,
and I manage not to have my brain unduly washed by them. That's probably
the price for that 'free' lunch.
As I said above, I am often approached or see messages on the net
asking for a friendly server for an email forum. I believe that this is it.
They have also just bought Liszt - http://www.liszt.com/ - the best search
engine for finding email forums by topic, and that speaks well of them (see
the reassuring letter about the merger at the Liszt site). Liszt covers
over 90000 email forums. It is estimated that there are over 200000 email
forums (sometimes called lists) on the net, covering everything imaginable.
I think this is a very good thing and have written a hopeful essay about
it: http://www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/pap116.html
By the way, you can also get free web space from a variety of sources (Ask
Jeeves - http://www.askjeeves.com/ - about Fortune City or ask me).
I say again that I have only just discovered it, but it looks okay.
I would be glad to hear any comments from past or present users. Perhaps I
should add that I have no connection with these people. I am only passing
the information on, as I do much other information, in a collegial and
enabling spirit.
See for yourself: Topica http://www.topica.com/
Best, Bob Young
__________________________________________
In making a personal reply, please put in Subject line: Message for Bob Young
Robert Maxwell Young: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
26 Freegrove Rd., London N7 9RQ, Eng. tel.+44 171 607 8306; fax.+44 171 609
4837.
Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies, Centre for
Psychotherapeutic
Studies, University of Sheffield: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/
Home page and writings: http://www.human-nature.com
Guides to the Internet: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/guides.html
'One must imagine Sisyphus happy.' - Camus
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