Hi,
Although I'm replying to Thomas, I'm going to address this message to Cathy.
Thomas Ward via Mailman-users writes:
You'll have to talk to EMWD to see if your archives will be kept with the migration. They have a completely custom web interface for archival.
When I talked with Brian several years ago he emphasized that moving to Mailman 3 at EMWD would be seamless. Presumably that would include moving the archives, which is quite straightforward if you're starting from a stock Mailman 2.[1]
EMWD uses their **own custom UI** for management and archiving. This means that we can't give you any real guidance on EMWD and such for how it relates to user management, etc.
This isn't really a problem though. Either way, the new UI will be new to your administrators, and EMWD has historically had an extremely good reputation for working with administrators on such things.[2] But your *subscribers* are *not* using the web interface. Perhaps that will change, but you aren't worried about that, rather that Mailman 3 will enforce use of a web UI. It won't -- if your users don't personalize their profiles in Mailman 2, there's no need for them to start in Mailman 3.
The intermediate case is the moderators, but I bet you are doing little or no moderation, and again, EMWD is probably happy to help their clients with that level of education.
Also, you did mention the archives. If users are using the archives, the UI will change (either EMWD or HyperKitty). I would expect that could be an issue. As far as that going, EMWD probably has client- focused lists that use their web UIs that you could subscribe to, or perhaps are already subscribed to!
I haven't looked at the mockups of Affinity etc that Brian published in years, but at the time they seemed streamlined compared to Postorius and HyperKitty. Between the fact that the "email-only" day-to-day operation you have with Mailman 2 will continue without a hitch with either stock Mailman 3 web UIs or EMWD web UIs, and Brian's pride in his work, I think that you should run, not walk, to EMWD and ask them the same questions.
Of course all of my estimates of what EMWD would or would not be happy to do should be confirmed by asking them!
Moving to a different hosting service or setting up your own server would be another matter, but as long as you're continuing to work with EMWD whom you find trustworthy, the sooner you move the better.
Steve
Footnotes: [1] There were enough differences between the Mailman 2 and 3 web UIs that he wasn't going to force anyone to upgrade. Organizations that depend on using the web UIs for their daily workflow could have their efficiency degraded while people learned the new system. This is especially true for the new EMWD web UIs for configuration and archives. But he was confident that the transition would not cause long interruptions in service or changes in the way you send, receive, and work with mail.
[2] Working with even dozens of users is another matter, and I can imagine that EMWD would draw the line there.
-- GNU Mailman consultant (installation, migration, customization) Sirius Open Source https://www.siriusopensource.com/ Software systems consulting in Europe, North America, and Japan