[Massplanners] massplanners listserv issues

[Jeffrey Robert Levine]

Putting on my "other chapter" hat, the Northern New England Chapter of APA had a similar issue a few years ago. We ended up finding a state university system (UMaine) that let us use their system under the aegis of their planning program at the Muskie School. They seem to use the "official" Listserv software from L-Soft. It works fairly well.

We looked at Google Groups but felt that even though it would be fairly simple for each subscriber to get a Google account, it would just be another step people would have to take (and some people don't like Google Groups, rational or not.)

Another thing we discussed was whether to just move everyone over to the new listserv or ask them to resubscribe. There were technical issues with moving the names over- and we were also concerned about signing people up to a new listserv without their consent, even though it was basically the new version of the old one. We ended up asking members on the old listserv to proactively sign up to the new one, and it took a long time to get the membership back up. I think we should have thought that through a little more.

Jeff Levine
(NNECPAPA President and APA-MA Member)



Jeff Levine, AICP (he/him)

Associate Professor of the Practice

Program Head, Housing, Community & Economic Development

Department of Urban Studies & Planning

Room 9-511

jrlevine at mit.edu<mailto:jrlevine at mit.edu>

(617) 817-0424

https://dusp.mit.edu/people/jeff-levine

Office Hours: https://dusp.mit.edu/officehours

Personal Zoom Room: https://mit.zoom.us/my/jeff.levine (Passcode: 9-511)

Levine, J. (2021). Leadership in Planning: How to Communicate Ideas and Effect Positive Change (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279287

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________________________________
From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> on behalf of webmaster--- via MassPlanners <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 6:49 PM
To: massplanners at masscptc.org <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Subject: [Massplanners] massplanners listserv issues

Dear massplanners listserv subscribers,
 The administrators have run into a problem with the listserv. We are no longer able to approve new subscribers. There is no known work around for this issue other than allowing anyone to subscribe without review. We are hesitant to use this option.
Also, some, and maybe all, subscribers who opted to receive listserv messages in ‘digest’ form (one email per day) are no longer receiving anything. This can be solved by unselecting the digest option. We have unselected the option on a case by case basis for subscribers who have contacted us. Subscribers can do this themselves by going to https://masscptc.org/mailman/options/massplanners_masscptc.org. Scroll down to ‘Set Digest Mode’ and set to ‘Off’.
The person running the server for the listserv and CPTC website believes that a recent update to Python, the underlying server language, is causing a bug in Mailman listserv platform. Normally the bug is fixed in relatively short order. This time that is not happening. He thinks that may be because the user base for Mailman has declined to the point where it is not considered important.  This may be the end of Mailman as a viable listserv platform.
We are evaluating moving to another platform. Currently under consideration are Google Groups, Gaggle, and Discourse. Gaggle and Discourse are more feature rich but cost money ($1200/year). Google groups is free but requires subscribers to have a Google account.
A reminder that the massplanners listserv is run entirely by volunteers. Shout out to Nathan Chung of Northampton and Mariah Kurtz of FRCOG for their assistance with the evaluation and Tim Czerwienski of Beals Associates Inc. for moderating the listserv.
We’ll keep you updated.
Alan Pease
CPTC

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