8 Feb
2026
8 Feb
'26
3:09 p.m.
TLDR: XSF Communication Team is asking to switch to mailbox.org for 30
EUR per year.
Dear all,
We would like to find a new email address for the XSF Communication Team
that supports all our growing needs. Protonmail no longer meets these
needs for a long time, either for free or at a reasonable price (while
still respecting their service).
We need such an account because Protonmail asked for a paid subscription
to use SMTP with e.g. Thunderbird (yes really). We are also limited in
organizing emails and the inbox as this is also restricted in the free
plan. Additionally, we are currently blocked to use Reddit and LinkedIn
with SocialBu with our Protonmail.
We are therefore looking for a decent host that also supports a good
level of compliance, privacy under GDPR, and possibly comes with more
capabilities at a reasonable price. We have created a service comparison
table here: https://pad.nixnet.services/331YAjbUQOmAWa2Octx_DA?view
Later on, we could also ask Mailbox.org if they could provide a standard
account for free. As they even used to run an XMPP server, they might be
willing to support an account. However, I am not sure how such a
collaboration should look like.
Firstly, we are blocked being fully operational and able to expand as we
could at the moment and I would like to switch first. Then we can expand
cooperation and maybe even sponsoring.
On the other hand, switching to mailbox.org would provide us with
additional organisational tooling that could benefit the XSF and the
XMPP Community such as custom domains and other office tools they provide.
Best regards,
Eddie
8 Feb
8 Feb
3:38 p.m.
Sounds reasonable to me.
I have very good experience with mailbox for both my professional and my
private account.
Thx Eddie!
On 2/8/26 4:09 PM, E.M. wrote:
TLDR: XSF Communication Team is asking to switch to
mailbox.org for 30
EUR per year.
Dear all,
We would like to find a new email address for the XSF Communication Team
that supports all our growing needs. Protonmail no longer meets these
needs for a long time, either for free or at a reasonable price (while
still respecting their service).
We need such an account because Protonmail asked for a paid subscription
to use SMTP with e.g. Thunderbird (yes really). We are also limited in
organizing emails and the inbox as this is also restricted in the free
plan. Additionally, we are currently blocked to use Reddit and LinkedIn
with SocialBu with our Protonmail.
We are therefore looking for a decent host that also supports a good
level of compliance, privacy under GDPR, and possibly comes with more
capabilities at a reasonable price. We have created a service comparison
table here: https://pad.nixnet.services/331YAjbUQOmAWa2Octx_DA?view
Later on, we could also ask Mailbox.org if they could provide a standard
account for free. As they even used to run an XMPP server, they might be
willing to support an account. However, I am not sure how such a
collaboration should look like.
Firstly, we are blocked being fully operational and able to expand as we
could at the moment and I would like to switch first. Then we can expand
cooperation and maybe even sponsoring.
On the other hand, switching to mailbox.org would provide us with
additional organisational tooling that could benefit the XSF and the
XMPP Community such as custom domains and other office tools they provide.
Best regards,
Eddie
12 Feb
12 Feb
11:07 a.m.
Dear all,
Apologies for the long wait in responding here. Eddie, I realize that
you've been trying to get this topic on the table for quite some time now.
Thank you for your patience and persistence in following up.
Referring back to an earlier discussion on this topic on the Board list,
there seemed to be broad agreement that obtaining a mailbox for the
Communication Team would be a normal operational expense, and that the cost
involved was modest and acceptable. In that light, I'm fine with approving
a budget of roughly 30 EUR/USD per year for a mailbox service, if that is
what's needed to unblock your work and better support current and future
activities.
Before moving ahead, I'd like to make sure we fully understand any
technical or organizational implications of the switch:
- Does this have (negative) impact on the identifiers/mail addresses
that we use? Can we continue to use the email addresses on our own domain?
- Is involvement from the iTeam required to set this up or migrate?
- Does this change have any impact beyond the Commteam, or affect other
ongoing or planned efforts?
Finally, to be explicit: let's leave any discussion around sponsorship,
partnerships, or logo placement out of scope for now. If the service is
useful, we should simply purchase it and move on. We can always revisit
broader collaboration questions separately, if and when that makes sense.
Kind regards,
Guus
On Sun, Feb 8, 2026 at 3:39 PM eevvoor <eevvoor(a)mailbox.org> wrote:
Sounds reasonable to me.
I have very good experience with mailbox for both my professional and my
private account.
Thx Eddie!
On 2/8/26 4:09 PM, E.M. wrote:
TLDR: XSF Communication Team is asking to switch
to mailbox.org for 30
EUR per year.
Dear all,
We would like to find a new email address for the XSF Communication Team
that supports all our growing needs. Protonmail no longer meets these
needs for a long time, either for free or at a reasonable price (while
still respecting their service).
We need such an account because Protonmail asked for a paid subscription
to use SMTP with e.g. Thunderbird (yes really). We are also limited in
organizing emails and the inbox as this is also restricted in the free
plan. Additionally, we are currently blocked to use Reddit and LinkedIn
with SocialBu with our Protonmail.
We are therefore looking for a decent host that also supports a good
level of compliance, privacy under GDPR, and possibly comes with more
capabilities at a reasonable price. We have created a service comparison
table here: https://pad.nixnet.services/331YAjbUQOmAWa2Octx_DA?view
Later on, we could also ask Mailbox.org if they could provide a standard
account for free. As they even used to run an XMPP server, they might be
willing to support an account. However, I am not sure how such a
collaboration should look like.
Firstly, we are blocked being fully operational and able to expand as we
could at the moment and I would like to switch first. Then we can expand
cooperation and maybe even sponsoring.
On the other hand, switching to mailbox.org would provide us with
additional organisational tooling that could benefit the XSF and the
XMPP Community such as custom domains and other office tools they
provide.
Best regards,
Eddie
18 Feb
18 Feb
9:52 p.m.
Hi Guus,
many thanks for the response and sorry for my delay.
Thanks for bringing this to Board. In general, I am open for other
suggestions if I missed something. Just let me know.
I believe it would certainly unblock our work and even improve quality
(of the newsletter).
I have reached out to iTeam and they ask about having a mailing list
system that does not apply to the needs as I see it. We need a "normal"
email. Also I prefer to keep the effort on the team low.
I cannot think of any other impacts beside the efforts I need to put
myself into switching to a new email.
Yes, no plans to start a sponsorship discussion.
Thanks,
Eddie
On 12/02/2026 11:07, Guus der Kinderen wrote:
Dear all,
Apologies for the long wait in responding here. Eddie, I realize that
you've been trying to get this topic on the table for quite some time now.
Thank you for your patience and persistence in following up.
Referring back to an earlier discussion on this topic on the Board list,
there seemed to be broad agreement that obtaining a mailbox for the
Communication Team would be a normal operational expense, and that the cost
involved was modest and acceptable. In that light, I'm fine with approving
a budget of roughly 30 EUR/USD per year for a mailbox service, if that is
what's needed to unblock your work and better support current and future
activities.
Before moving ahead, I'd like to make sure we fully understand any
technical or organizational implications of the switch:
- Does this have (negative) impact on the identifiers/mail addresses
that we use? Can we continue to use the email addresses on our own domain?
- Is involvement from the iTeam required to set this up or migrate?
- Does this change have any impact beyond the Commteam, or affect other
ongoing or planned efforts?
Finally, to be explicit: let's leave any discussion around sponsorship,
partnerships, or logo placement out of scope for now. If the service is
useful, we should simply purchase it and move on. We can always revisit
broader collaboration questions separately, if and when that makes sense.
Kind regards,
Guus
On Sun, Feb 8, 2026 at 3:39 PM eevvoor <eevvoor(a)mailbox.org> wrote:
Sounds reasonable to me.
I have very good experience with mailbox for both my professional and my
private account.
Thx Eddie!
On 2/8/26 4:09 PM, E.M. wrote:
TLDR: XSF Communication Team is asking to switch
to mailbox.org for 30
EUR per year.
Dear all,
We would like to find a new email address for the XSF Communication Team
that supports all our growing needs. Protonmail no longer meets these
needs for a long time, either for free or at a reasonable price (while
still respecting their service).
We need such an account because Protonmail asked for a paid subscription
to use SMTP with e.g. Thunderbird (yes really). We are also limited in
organizing emails and the inbox as this is also restricted in the free
plan. Additionally, we are currently blocked to use Reddit and LinkedIn
with SocialBu with our Protonmail.
We are therefore looking for a decent host that also supports a good
level of compliance, privacy under GDPR, and possibly comes with more
capabilities at a reasonable price. We have created a service comparison
table here: https://pad.nixnet.services/331YAjbUQOmAWa2Octx_DA?view
Later on, we could also ask Mailbox.org if they could provide a standard
account for free. As they even used to run an XMPP server, they might be
willing to support an account. However, I am not sure how such a
collaboration should look like.
Firstly, we are blocked being fully operational and able to expand as we
could at the moment and I would like to switch first. Then we can expand
cooperation and maybe even sponsoring.
On the other hand, switching to mailbox.org would provide us with
additional organisational tooling that could benefit the XSF and the
XMPP Community such as custom domains and other office tools they
provide.
Best regards,
Eddie
12
days inactive
22
days old
3 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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E.M. -
eevvoor -
Guus der Kinderen