I'm planning a monthly newsletter for my website and am wondering which app would be best for managing both the mailouts and returning correspondence.

My initial thought was to try something like 'mutt' - a commandline app - because of its configurability, though I've never used it; but some of the GUI apps may have matured to the point where they're just as flexible with a better interface.

Does anyone have experience or comments in this area?

No experience with newsletters, but, if the volume of out-going mail is going to be high, caution might be in order. Some ISPs have an algorithm that, if you send out more than X emails in [unit time], they assume you are a spammer and lock your account until you prove them wrong; each cc: counts as an individual email.

If you use a hosting service and the hosting service offers you an email address associated with your website, you might investigate using that email address. In that way, if your domain is www.someplace.au, the mail can then come from tekra@someplace.au.

Regarding Mutt, I spent this past summer familiarizing myself with it because I wanted to learn. This is easily the best introductory tutorial I found:
http://docs.huihoo.com/gentoo/resour...e-to-mutt.html

I did a podcast for HPR about my experience with Mutt. You may find some of the links in the shownotes useful.

As for GUI mail programs, I used to use Opera, but I don't like the direction Opera has been headed in since their management shake-up a couple of years ago. Lately, I've been using Seamonkey mail, which is quite configurable, on the one computer on which I still use a GUI mail client. I'm not a big fan of Thunderbird, but that's just a matter of taste; it performs quite nicely, but I don't like the interface design. I also really like Claws/Sylpheed.

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Thanks for a thoughtful reply.

> Some ISPs have an algorithm that ... each cc: counts as an individual email.

Yep. Struck this a couple of years ago on another of my sites, and wrote a Perl script that allowed be to upload a message body, a list of addresses, and it parceled them out within the allowance. The script is still looking like the best option for outgoing.

> Regarding Mutt, .. easily the best introductory tutorial I found ...

Thanks again, that'll be useful. Getting started with something like mutt always takes a leg-up.

> As for GUI mail programs, I used to use Opera ... I don't like the direction Opera has been headed

I've been using Opera for years and still like it, but am also a bit leery about where it's going. Might take a look at Sylpheed; I use Gentoo and it seems to have a heap of components in the repo. My main concern is that replies tend to come in bunches: nothing for a day of two and then a short flood. Keeping track of who's who needs a carefully-structured set of folders etc.

If you use Sylpheed/Claws, you'll need a couple of plugins.

I've mostly used Claws, and found I needed a couple of plugins to get the functionality I wanted. There's a good one for viewing HTML mail, which Sylpheed does not format by default. It doesn't support composing HTML. Address Keeper is also useful. Not quite sure about plugins specifically for Sylpheed or about cross-compatibility.

Good luck.

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Thanks again for the help. Got plenty to keep me busy.