Zulip as Mailing List

[xeruf]

I would like to advance the E-Mail analogy Zulip was built from so it can function as a full-featured alternative to Mailing Lists, advancing beyond https://docs.zulip.com/help/using-zulip-via-email
I have never been a big user of mailing lists myself, but from what I saw, the following things would need work for that:

Signup:

• ability for new users to receive email notifications for messages in all streams they are subscribed to, which they can respond to and unsubscribe from (this should work already)
• ability to complete signup without password (with ability to set it anytime with reset or request a management link to email) and instead choose stream subscriptions from confirmation mail
• alternatively, a form that allows signup for a specific stream as guest or even selecting streams, something like https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo
• ability for users to subscribe (creating a passwordless guest account) simply via sending a mail to the stream address

Usability:

• polishing the email gateway: Improve email gateway. #10612
• short stream email addresses: Short/Vanity Stream Email Addresses #13571

The goal here really is to reproduce all major features so nothing deters people from moving over from plain mailing lists or google groups (Ugh!) to Zulip :)

I am generally interested in sponsoring development here, though my funds are limited.
Maybe also interesting as a GSoC project?

[xeruf]

One other potentially interesting aspect:
The ability to disallow or moderate who can create a new topic, making it possible to use it as a kind of blog with comments.

[alya]

One other potentially interesting aspect: The ability to disallow or moderate who can create a new topic, making it possible to use it as a kind of blog with comments.

This part sounds like #19642.

[zulipbot]

Hello @zulip/server-development members, this issue was labeled with the "area: emails" label, so you may want to check it out!

[AbhishekCS3459]

@alya @zulipbot I want to claim and contribute in this new feature, please assign it to me

[alya]

@xeruf Can you say more about why it would be important to be able to do account (password) management and stream subscription management without opening the Zulip app?

[xeruf]

Because I want to include people who do not want to create yet another account anywhere or care about a password.
I want it to provide a user experience that fully mirrors a typical mailing list.

[alya]

Hmm, I think you can get close to that by enabling non-email authentication? Available options:

Apple
GitHub
GitLab
Google

[xeruf]

Not really, it should be possible to have an account without password and just use a magic link (which is handy in any case) like in Notion, i.e. you get the link to login/manage subscriptions per E-Mail.
I don't wanna drive people towards big tech and neither require an own OIDC login as users should have the possibility to sign up themselves from the web.
I know plenty of people who are incapable of proper password management, so rather than the danger of reusing insecure passwords, require none at all and utilize the EMail they already have.

One other little thing:
Supplement or replace the "Last login" profile info by "Last message sent" - also in terms of privacy that might be worth a consideration

[xeruf]

The proliferation of separate accounts with passwords is something that stops many digital immigrants. My grandad is just doing fine with E-Mail but incapable of creating an account somewhere himself, yet I might want to include him in a conversation in a modern tool like Zulip.
So I think this feature is a vital step towards accessibility and inclusion.

[xeruf]

Hey, I would still love to have this implemented and might be able to get some funding for it if this helps to get somebody dedicated to work on it.
Currently many projects have a mailing list, a mailing list archive and a forum - with some thought, Zulip could easily unify these three.

[xeruf]

I do think this could be a great area for a GSoC project as well