Mailing lists (was UTORspaminator)

Got your attention, didn't I? :)

Seriously though, one possible application that I think is causing itching with enough people at U of T, is simple mailing lists. Ideally we'd want a solution that is:

1. Easy to use (MailMan and ListServ work quite well, but somewhat cryptic and convoluted).
2. Easy to maintain. Ideally there would be zero maintenance. With systems like UTORrole, one could auto-populate various lists (or just ask for them on demand) and thus reduce maintenance to near-zero.
3. Easy to migrate to. We should look at what people are currently using, how they're using it, and why. Based on their needs and business practices, we should have a solution that won't be too "costly" to implement. My guesstimate would be that this would mainly be "fluffy" and "cuddly" features like ability to import and parse Excel/CSV spreadsheets, or using some sort of involved process to allow self-[un]subscription.
4. To expand on the previous point there: for example, we could implement a system that would be backwards compatible with most "common/popular" ListServ/MailMan e-mail based commands and requests.