[Lnc-business] Email cutovers

[Ken Moellman]

All -

It's been a bit delayed, but I'm preparing the email cutover for LP
National.  There are some changes which need to happen to make this work
for the long-term.

The cutover will happen in 2 steps:

First, mailing lists will be hosted only on hq.lp.org.  This will separate
mailing lists from the lp.org email domain.

Second, we need to use mailboxes instead of forwarders for LP.org email
addresses.

Why are we ending the use of forwarders?  Because we have to. We're having
problems on the existing system with various email providers ending up in
spam.  It's hard to explain this without a whiteboard, but simply put -
email forwarding is becoming obsolete and will continue to fade out as spam
prevention measures are adopted by various ISPs. This is not something in
our control.  I have attached a screenshot (which hopefully will make it
through the list) to show you an example of the problem as it exists today.

So hq.lp.org will be for email lists, and lp.org will be for email
mailboxes.

During the period between the transition, there may be some interruption of
the ability to send email through lists.  After both phases of the cutover,
the lists will require sending from your LP.org address.  This will avoid
having us placed on spam blacklists (which also effects our email blast
reach).

I will plan these cutovers to occur as closely together as possible to
avoid any extended service issues.

This will also have the effect of ending all previous email forwarders
being used - so former LNC members will no longer have @lp.org email
addresses.

The shared email system now hosts 9 state affiliates (7 of which are
active) and it is functioning as expected.  I have written detailed
instructions for management of the system in the long term, so that the
email server can be managed by any staff member.  There are some rules on
usage to avoid being put on spam blacklists, and those rules are included
in the administration guide.

For those interested, I can separately email the end user guide.  I am
still in need of updating the guide regarding the configuration of various
mail clients, but it is otherwise configured.

There's still a good bit of pre-work to do prior to cutover, but I wanted
to put this out there so that everyone is aware  and we can fully discuss
this change in procedure. This will be a major effort on my part, and I
want to make sure everyone is comfortable with it before we embark on it.

As a reminder, this cutover will save the party about $500 per month, and
the current server used for email is ancient (in IT terms) and not being
supported by our vendor anymore.

Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions.  I don't want
to provide too many details on an open list, as it may create security
problems.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20171101/2f9b8310/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Screenshot_20171101-001815.png
Type: image/png
Size: 174552 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20171101/2f9b8310/attachment-0001.png>