[NTLUG:Discuss] why does the mail server stop working overandover

[Rick Cook]

On Wednesday 04 May 2005 13:10, Lance Simmons wrote:
> * MadHat <madhat at unspecific.com> [050504 12:17]:
> > Because web based BBSs suck.  But that is just my opinion.  Email
> > works fine for me.
>
> Email plus a searchable archive works for me.  I expect I would forget
> to visit a web forum.

There are often debates between the relative merits of "push" type forums 
versus "pull" type forums. Many moons ago, we decided that we would 
mainly go with the "push" form with a variety of mailing lists. This 
seemed to fit the needs/preferences of the "members" and mapped well to 
our hardware capability. It also maps well to "the lazy" like Lance and 
myself who would fall away from the "pull" type 

We eventually added a web-forum based discussion board that eventually was 
turned into the equivalent of an open smtp relay by some spambot. After 
we shut that down, I added some nntp newsgroups to service the "pull" 
type preferences. Some time after that, we linked the two by enabling the 
email list to newserver gateway function of mailman. For a short while we 
had "all of the above". Unfortunately, my attempts to layer some newer 
mailman and innd versions on top of our Debian woody installation 
eventual broke both the nntp server and the mail-news gateway.

The "replacement server" is a 500 Mhz Pentium III VARstation with 128 Mb 
RAM that was our server for our last couple of years at HyperNet. When we 
moved to our current hosting provider, thePlanet.com, the VARstation was 
"temporarily" replaced by a 300Mhz Pentium II clone that was donated to 
help ease the transition. When we (read mostly me) finally get around to 
getting the VARstation ready to go, it will once again become our server.


Rick