Google Groups for mailing lists and archives

Hi all,

Google has expanded their Google Groups venture to include the hosting of
online discussions, both mailing lists and newsgroups. Until recently they
provided  a web interface and archives for the many thousands of existing
Usenet Newsgroups. They are running a beta test of a hosting servicefor
mailing lists that will be integrated with the newsgroups archives that they
maintain.

Over the last several months, Stuart Levine and I have have given the new
Google discussion group hosting service a test drive. There were several
road bumps and detours along the way but Google Groups is now working well.
I would recommend it for a new discussion group just starting out. Moving an
existing group like Network-Lawyers is not an easy task :)


Like Yahoo Groups--which hosts our Network-Lawyers discussion
group--messages posted by email to a Google Group discussion are distributed
by email to all of the subscribers who may reply and post new messages to
the group by email.  Like Yahoo Groups, messages may also be posted, read
and replied to via the web where the message archives are maintained.
However, the interface on the web provided by Google Groups is better.  In
addition Google Groups do not slap ads at the foot of all of the messages
going through the group.  Google does have some discrete ads on the side of
the pages at their web site--not as much in your face as the ads that you
run into at the Yahoo Groups web site for Network-Lawyers.

You can take a look at the experimental beta test discussion ground that
Stuart and I played around with at Google Groups:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/network-lawyers

If you would like moderator privileges to take a look behind the scenes at
the beta discussion group we set up, please go to the above URL, sign in and
post a message saying something like "king me." and Stuart or I will see to
your "elevation" to moderator.  The interface is for moderation and
management of the group is simple and fairly intuitive.

Google is integrating the Google Groups discussion groups that they are
hosting with their other Google Groups venture, a web interface for reading,
posting and replying to the thousands of Usenet Newsgroups. Google acquired
Deja.com--the outfit made all of the Newsgroup discussions on the Usenet
available to everyone in the world with browser access to the web--that
Google acquired three or four years ago after the dot.com bubble burst.
Also as a consequence of the acquisition, Google added the zillion or so
messages in the web-based Newsgroup archives that Deja was maintaining had
as a significant addition to the search base for their search engine.

More about the venerable and ever popular Newsgroups and acquisition of
Deja.com by Google is at:

http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/pressrelease48.html

Google Groups is now integrating the read/write/search interface for groups
that Google hosts and the thousands of Usenet Newsgroups for which they
provide the web interface and archives.  How to use the new integrated or
combined web interface and archives is explained at:

http://www.google.com/googlegroups/about

I think Google has hit upon an interface that will be for many as good or
better than reading, posting and responding using their email
program--especially for those who are currently overwhelmed by the volume of
email that they are receiving.  Many have solved this by forwarding emails
to folders.  For some the superior Google search engine will win them over
to the web interface rather than email for participating in Google Groups
discussion groups.

Thanks,

John

Jonn DeBruyn Denver CO USA






------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/dpFolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

-/-/-/-/-/

There is a read/write Web page with resources that will be linked there and used during the Seminar on PDFs for lawyers and legal applications:

http://Network-Lawyers.org/PDFLinks

-/-/-/-/-/


 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Network-Lawyers/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Network-Lawyers-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/