INTRODUCTION ------------ Mail2Forum (M2F) joins two separate worlds of internet based communication together. Until now, it has not been possible for a web-based bulletin board or forum system such as phpBB to interact with an email-based mailing list. Each system operated independently. The purpose of Mail2Forum is to combine the functionality of the online forum with that of a mailing list. Mail2Forum gives the user the best of both worlds. Separately, each system has its own advantages and disadvantages: The Mailing List **************** Electronic mailing lists are very simple and convenient for the end user. Indeed, participation in discussions is no more complicated than any other form of email communication. Many users have an email client which will check for new messages periodically in the background, which enables very quick response times. The disadvantage is that there is often no automatic archiving or sorting of past discussions. Emails tend to get lost in time and an email's content is only available to the original recipients. While some mailing list servers have the ability to keep an archive of the email messages, it is often uncategorized and chaotic, leaving the user with a mess of unorganized messages. Additionally, archiving is only available as a reference, rather than an active part of the communication process. The Web Forum ************* At the same time, web-based forums like phpBB are very well suited for organized discussions. Users may contribute to a subject by posting to a new or existing "thread" of discussion. The threads can be sorted into categories, moved, split, searched, browsed, hidden and subscribed to via a simple interface. The main criticism of the online forum is that it requires the user to login and click through a number of pages in order to browse or post, all of which must be transferred over an internet connection. For some this may be less convenient than email. Although web-based forums and email mailing lists both have the common purpose of communication, each system achieves this very differently, in turn attracting a distinct group of users. Mail2Forum is a complete web forum/mailing list integration system, which enables the two groups to interact without changing their habits in any way. HOW DOES MAIL2FORUM WORK? --------------------------- * Designed as an add-on, or modification, to existing bulletin board/forum software such as phpBB. * Any of the discussion forums on the board can be linked to a mailing list. * Can be used with existing mailing lists run by servers such as listserv or majordomo, or alone as an independent (but limited) mailing list manager. * When a forum is linked to a mailing list, any new posts or replies in that forum will be forwarded to the mailing list by email. Any emails sent to the mailing list will be added to the forum, in the correct topic (thread). * Incoming emails can be imported into Mail2Forum in various ways. M2F currently supports mbox, stdin and POP3 mail extraction methods. MAIL2FORUM TERMINOLOGY ------------------------ Mail2Forum uses a few special terms to define the concepts behind its operation: * MAILING LIST A list of users that wish to receive email from a forum. * DISTRIBUTION LIST A connection between a forum and a mailing list. When messages are added to a forum or sent to M2F they are routed through the distribution list. Mail2Forum provides a Distribution Lists administration panel where a forum and a mailing list can be connected and configured. MAIL2FORUM FEATURES --------------------- * Integrates with phpBB (bulletin board/forum software) * Allows posting to a phpBB forum via an email. * Allows users to receive email whenever a post is made in a forum. * Incoming messages are intelligently routed to the appropriate forum and topic thread based on a special email header, or if that's not present the message subject. * Users may subscribe or unsubscribe to mailing lists via the phpBB interface. Administrators can also add and remove users via a phpBB administration panel. * Allow or disallow incoming email from unregistered users. * May be used as a stand-alone mailing list server/manager, or with an existing mailing list server (like listserv or majordomo). * Can convert to and from HTML email. * Simple to use and administer. * Uses phpbb security features. Users can only subscribe to forums they have permission to read. * Open source code under GNU/GPL license. * Handles email attachments FUTURE FEATURE LIST ------------------- * Daily journal and newsletters feature * Reminder feature * Improved search mechanism. * Improved search engine bots management * Allow a many-to-many relationship between forums and mailing lists * Support other forum software This is by no means an exhaustive list of the planned feature set for Mail2Forum but should serve as a good guide to the core functionality of the project.