Google Groups vs Yahoo Groups

October 9, 2006 9:49 AM

Google Groups vs Yahoo Groups: Which would you choose? I need to pick a free email discussion group manager to serve as a digital town square for a group of 300-500 people of poor-to-decent computer skills across North America. Please help me choose.

I have read related AskMe threads and the only main difference that I noticed people mention is that Yahoo’s has a sort of shared calendar to post events. Any others of note? I’m responsible for making this decision for a lot of people, so I’m trying to get all the input I can.

Requirements:

Moderated group, with ability to spawn other related moderated groups.

Ability to kick it off by feeding it a list of 300-400 email addresses, so I don’t have to type them in individually.

Archives of discussions.

Ability to transplant threads to new threads as needed.

Expansion-capable. It will probably never reach 1,000 addresses, but who knows.

Recommendations or experiences of people who have used both are especially welcome. How do they compare in simplicity, especially for those dragged reluctantly into the digital age?

posted by sacre_bleu to computers & internet (3 comments total)

Yahoo! has a ton of 'extra' stuff, from integrated calendar to pictures to file posting.

Google Groups is Usenet with some news-reading capabilities wrapped in.

In my opinion, if you want something simple and friendly that's easy to get off the ground with and has the extra stuff like a calendar, etc..., go with Yahoo! Groups.

If you want something with powerful search tools and is better equipped for a 'firehose' of posts, Google Groups is the way to go.

You should also look into Google For Your Domain (beta), which might provide the best of both worlds for you.
posted by onalark at 10:00 AM on October 9, 2006

Google Groups is Usenet with some news-reading capabilities wrapped in.

No, that's the old one. The new one is a "host your own mailing list" competitor to Yahoo Groups, but which also includes all of the Usenet archive as well.
posted by mendel at 10:56 AM on October 9, 2006

Don't forget to also include the new Google Groups Beta (about) in your comparison. It adds filesharing, shared web pages, some UI improvements.
posted by misterbrandt at 11:43 AM on October 9, 2006