Listserver/email inbound and outbound

[Mike Doub]

Hello List,

I am thinking about writing a custom listserver type application but I don't
know that much about how to get my system to be a mail host.  I am looking
for advice about any tools or scripts that could get me started.  

I am interested in experimenting with the idea of a list server that you
subscribe to topics rather than to the whole list.  My idea is that everyone
would have an "announcement" channel that could be configurable by keywords
and searchable via the web.  The user then "subscribes" to topics of
interest.

This crazy idea came from trying to work the communication problem of
wanting to be part of discussion about specific software bugs. Think of
subscribing to the discussion tied to a specific bugzilla bug.  Most folks
have a few favorite bugs that they would like to monitor, but not really all
of them.

I would appreciate people's thoughts on both the inbound and outbound side
of email, with Rev as the code managing the behavior of the list server.  

Thanks in advance,
   Mike