David,
Saturday, May 18, 2002 you wrote:
DD> I have found Imail's listserv lacking for a long time, and had
DD> hoped there would be some improvement in Version 7, but didn't see
DD> any changes.
Agreed. We finally decided managing IMAIL lists was more trouble
than it was worth and was beneath the level of service we wanted to
provide our customers. So we discontinued offering the service
entirely until we could be serious about it and offer a
professional solution.
DD> For the NT platform, I'm looking for suggestions for alternatives,
DD> and I'll still use Imail as the front end, especially due to the
DD> Declude plug-ins.
I do not believe there are any NT/Win2k solutions worthy of
investment. If we do determine to offer more generalized service
in the future it is likely we'd do it with a Unix/Linux server and
software, more bandwidth investment, and improved DNS
capabilities.
I did look at a number of other MS based mail servers with list
capabilities but could not justify based on performance and/or
price.
DD> I've looked a Lyris, any other suggestions?
Seems too expensive to me and I am skeptical about the
reported performance. There are almost never optimal
circumstances.
We felt we just were not set up to handle large lists or 2-way
lists so we just asked those clients to make other arrangements.
One client purchased a product called SVList
http://www.softventures.com/htm/SVListblue.htm and uses it in
conjunction with our mail server to manage a list of about 1,000
members. So far it has been an excellent solution. We are
spending no time on it and the client is spending very little
time as well. There are other tools like this as well but this
is the only one with which I have direct experience.
Another client with a 30k member announcement list simply went
to an outside list provider. I think he is not very happy with
the service but he is happier with them than with us and there
is no point in everyone being unhappy. And I'm happier.
For our clients' smaller (10k and under) announcement lists, all
of which require programming and management, we are doing the
following:
1) Sql7 and flat files for storage; Perl for programs
2) Using an IMAIL program alias to a Perl program for double
opt-in confirmations. Also an alternate ASP page.
3) Using an IMAIL program alias to Perl program for bounce
managemen
4) Using Perl and BulkMail package with Microsoft SMTP server
for sending messages to announcement lists
a) can't really say enough good things about BulkMail package
1) lists can be from multiple sources including functions
which are calls to database (what we do)
2) kill list
3) personalized, customized messages - fabulous
4) many other excellent options
b) using Envelope sending can exceed 30,000 messages per hour
i) only MSN and HOTMAIL bounce messages sent this way
2) Envelope sending conserves so much bandwidth it is
amazing
c) Microsoft SMTP server with good DNS and plenty of bandwidth
performs very, very well - BUT you do need really good DNS
and lots of bandwidth.
The IMAIL program alias was a pain to get working for me but I am
extremely happy with the results on both the opt-in confirmations
and the bounces. I have not seen any significant impact on our
IMAIL server but in one day I think the most number of bounces
I've seen is about 3,000.
Probably not what you wanted to hear.
Terry Fritts
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