Differences between UCSB Connect Groups and MailMan

Owned by Marc Miller
Last updated: May 19, 2023 by Marc Miller
3 min read


Contents

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Purpose

This is to go over just a few of the differences between UCSB Connect Groups (Google Groups) and Mailman.

Joining a List via email…

The first obvious thing is that UCSB Connect Groups is making use of the Google’s G-Suite Apps, in this case Google Groups.

Google Groups is Google’s answer to Mailing Lists and a forum.

Unlike Mailman, where each group you would join a Mailing List by sending an email to the list with Subscribe in the subject, you will need to send an email like this:

<email list>+subscribe@<domain>

So for example, if the email list was:

newslist@test.ucsb.edu

You will want to mail to:

newslist+subscribe@test.ucsb.edu

In order to subscribed via mail.

If the list allows Joining, an email will be sent back confirming the Join Request:

We received your request to join <list>

In order for us to complete the request, please reply to this email or click below:

[Join This Group]

For a list that requires the manager to allow joining, the message would look something like:


We received your request to join <list>

<list> requires owner approval for join requests.  If you would like to continue with your join request, reply to this email or click below:

[Join This Group]


If you are the manager of the group, you will want to go into Moderation permissions and set Approve Members to include Managers of the group in order to approve them.

Unsubscribing a group via Email…

To unsubscribe from a list via email, it is the same as joining:

<email list>+unsubscribe@<domain>


Accessing the Group Webpage

Unlike Mailman, UCSB Connect Groups webpage relies on members having a UCSB Connect account or a Google Account.

Members can access the Group via:

https://groups.google.com

If they do not have a UCSB Connect Account or a Google Account, they will be required to create or sign in with a Google Account in order to use the Group webpage and link that Google Account to their email address if they are confirming their join request with the group.

The Mailing list portion of the Group will still function as is without the webpage interface.

Users without a UCSB Connect or Google account will lack the ability to have things such as seeing past messages or configure how they wish the mailing list deliver the group mail (Such as Digest mode).

This also pre-cludes them from being moderators of the group, as Google uses the UCSB Connect or Google Account to verify their identity and rights.

Inviting Group Members

UCSB Connect Groups means to invite users is fairly straightforward, similar to Mailman.

The only real difference is that Direct add members is most similar to what the Mass Subscription method.

Invite members just sends an invite to a user which they can decide if they wish to join or not.

Invited members do have to accept the invitation before they start receiving emails from the UCSB Connect Group.

Inviting or direct adding members does not override the requirement for a UCSB Connect or Google Account to make use of the web interface.

The Invite/Direct Add member function is useful when you wish to add people to the group while it is Private or restricted.

Showing Publically or Not

Listing the UCSB Connect Group is different from how Mailman does it.

Mailman lists the groups via the server there on.

UCSB Connect Groups, on the other hand, you search via the UCSB Connect Groups’ web interface while logged in with your UCSB Connect Account.

For UCSB Connect Groups, if you check Directory->Group directory->List this group in the directory box for the group, this will allow it to be searchable from the UCSB Connect Groups web interface.

Showing the group publically will not supersede the group’s join or viewing permissions.

This just makes it so the group can be found via the web interface by those using the UCSB Connect Groups services.

This does not make it findable via Google Groups.

Non UCSB Connect users should be added/invited or told the joining email address as listed above.

Creating a mailing list

Creating a mailing list via Google Groups can be done through your Connect Department Admin (Usually your Department's Business Officer or MSO).

The process itself can take up to 1 business day, but usually, it is available within 15 minutes upon creation.

For more information, please refer to Setting up Connect Groups Mailing List document as well as:

https://www.connect.ucsb.edu/training-support/connect-user-guides/google-workspace-groups-mailing-list-service

Further Resources

Please refer to the following links for other resources for the UCSB Connect Groups:

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