Mailing List Service
The Computer Club of WMU is now offering mailing list services, at little or no cost, to the WMU and Kalamazoo Community.
For academic use at WMU (classroom use for professors, instructors, or teaching assistants), or for administrative or academic departments, or for research groups, the services are free. Student organizations and community non-profit groups can get mailing lists for a low cost.
If you are unfamiliar with mailing list services: A mailing list allows you to send out a single email messages to a single address, and have that email redirected to a list of email addresses: a class, a club, a department, etc.
Features of our mailing lists:
We use the latest GNU mailman software. We can offer such features as:
- All administration of the list is thru a point-and-click web interface. (Administration includes: optionally approving new subscribers, optionally approving messages, etc.)
- Lists can be configured to allow all recipients to post to the list (turning the list into an email-based discussion), or, as an announcement-only list, where only the list administrator can post.
- Recipients can modify the email address at which they receive the messages, also thru a web interface. Recipients also must verify via email their subscription to a list, ensuring that you cannot be signed up for a list without your approval.
- All messages are archived and can be browsed via the web or a newsreader.
If you are familiar with similar services offered on the internet: We do not insert band-width hogging adds into every message. And our server is located on campus, ensuring better response should any troubles arise.
Pricing:
As mentioned above, lists for academic, administrative, or research use, are free. There are some restrictions:
- The list must have 50 or fewer recipients (we charge marginally more for larger lists).
- The list must be self-administered (we charge more to administer the list).
- Only a single list is offered per group; additional lists are more.
Pricing for student groups and others: $20 for a self-administered list of 50 or fewer recipients, for one year. This price includes an email address and space for a web page on our server. Additional lists can be obtained for only $5 per list, and we will administer a list for an extra $10.
Some fine print:
There are some restrictions we need to impose on the lists, generally for security and system-stability reasons:
- We reserve the right to shut down a list if the traffic reaches intolerable levels (e.g., dozens of messages per second), or, if the space used by the list reaches intolerable levels.
- We reserve the right to limit enrollment to a list if the enrollment reaches levels far beyond what was negotiated for a list. (For example: if 500 people register for a list in a short period of time, when the list was intended to fit under the 50 recipient limit.)
- We reserve the right to deny access to any list to anyone who spams the list.
- Unless other arrangements are made, all lists must be set up such that non-list-subscribers cannot post to a list.
- Any behavior by list recipients or administrators that violates basic university policies on system security is not allowed.
- We reserve the right to terminate service, or change policies, or change pricing (even for currently free services) as of the beginning of each semester. Users with ongoing arrangements may receive a pro-rated refund.
- Users of mailing lists are bound to these terms, even though they will not be signing any formal agreement.
Please contact us at services@yakko.cs.wmich.edu if you have any questions.