Subject: LIST OWNER/ADMIN - stuff happening

From: "Jay West" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri Jun 20 18:47:01 2003

Several things happening on the classiccmp server front....

1) I'm looking into cleaning up the old mohnarc list archives, and
integrating them into the current mailman archives. This would also include
filling in the couple of missing months as well as scrubbing the email
addresses from the old archives. The old archives are currently offline,
pending me completing this task. I am going to try and put in a search
function as well, and MAYBE a thread view.

2) I'm also looking into upgrading the mailman list software to the latest
stable version. This has a whole bunch of new features - most for list
admins, but a decent amount of new user features as well. See list.org and
the 2.1 release for specifics.

3) One of the features in the new mailman is the introduction of the
isolated list moderator role. Right now there is just the list owner, and
the subscribers. To approve posts on a moderated list (cctech), or posts
from non members to a private list (cctalk), the list owner has to go in and
do this on each individual post (web based). The screens that come up for
this also include list configuration items that a list moderator only
shouldn't be able to change. With the new software, since there is a list
moderator type user, that means I can solicit responsible people from the
list to help moderate posts, without giving them access to system wide list
configuration. If anyone would like to volunteer to be a list moderator, I'd
like to get a few people to help after I get the new software installed. You
don't need to know anything about unix or mailman, you just have to be able
to use a web browser and look at each post and click "accept, discard,
etc.". Ideally I'd like to get a few people that are spread across different
time zones who are willing to do this once a day. If several people do this,
the flow of posts requiring moderation should be a lot quicker. I am
guessing that if we have maybe 3 moderators, it wouldn't take each person
more than 5-10 minutes a day, or every other day. If interested, contact me
off-list. The new version of mailman has some new spam filters. Spam is
already caught for moderation, so these spam features would just make it
less work for the moderator as to the number of posts to discard. If this
works really well, I may not need additional moderators.

4) The server hosting the list has become... ermmm "cluttered". I want to
reinstall the OS from scratch and everything along with it. This is
partially to get current on all the packages used on the server (read:
security reasons), and partly because the machine is just cluttered up. Yes,
all the current archives and such will be maintained across the install of
course. This DOES mean that the list would be totally down when I swap the
drives, perhaps for 20 minutes. Of course I'll let the list know in advance
when this is to be done.

5) The server is starting to swap (not enough memory), and the main data
disk is about 60% full. When the server was purchased, going from memory
here... various listmembers contributed around $220 bucks, and I paid about
$200 out of my own pocket to cover the box. I would like to definitely
upgrade the memory to 512mb, this will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of
$120 (maybe $20, researching). I'm also thinking about upgrading the data
drive from 20gb to 170gb. This would cost about $99 bucks. Would anyone be
interested in helping out with donations towards these? Either cash or the
requisite hardware. Let me know off-list if so. Don't just go straight to
paypal, I need to research a little further if the drive is required. I'll
let the list know my findings then. Part of the reason for considering more
disk is that the one there is a bit over half full, but most of it is
because I want to mirror a large number of classic computer related files
from other locations. And yes, the server that hosts the list is completely
dedicated to classiccmp stuff, nothing else is on it.

6) Finally, I've got some ideas for things I want to do to the classiccmp
website. I'm an admin, not a web developer, so I'm curious if there is
anyone on the list who is willing to do specific changes to the
classiccmp.org website. Most of the things I want to put there need to be
done in PHP and possibly mySQL so being familiar with those is important.

And finally, (putting on some body armor first), I'm in the mode of taking
requests - so if anyone has suggestions for things they'd like to see on the
website or changes to the list, please contact me OFF LIST. I'd love to hear
any ideas you all may have for improvements. Depending on the suggestion, I
may just implement it or reject it, or I may bring it to the list for
discussion/decision as to if it should be done.

Regards,

Jay West