Hi Nick,
Roz and myself have used MPNews since version 2 with great success.
We've not used the newsgrouphosting service ourselves so Chris and
newsgrouphosting users are best for specific advise.
I suspect that this subject would be best continued in the newsgrouphosting
forum mps.mpnews.HostingSupport so I've set replies to this message
to go to that forum 
I'll jump in and make some quick comments so you can be confident that
MPNews v5 will do all that you ask and be easily tweaked later as your
needs change in the future. Hopefully others will be able to offer
some hand holding, currently I'm in the middle of seasonal sales with
7 day/evening trading so I don't have much time until new year.
In article JayTR says...
Yes, it's a challenge -- especially for non-technical users like me.
MPNews is designed around separate modules so you don't have to learn
everything at once. Add features later as demands need and time allow
or following advice from Chris or other newsgrouphosting users.
Chris will no doubt advise how he makes the various modules
available to customers to suit their needs.
Yes, it's a challenge -- especially for non-technical users like me.
I'm glad that you set up these forums and I hope other users of the software and/or the newsgrouphosting service will participate. What I think would help would be for you to send out an email to all of your newly-acquired customers (both the software users and the newsgrouphosting users) letting them know that you set these forums up. If enough users know about these forums, and enough of them begin to participate, I'm sure that would help everyone.
How do I use (or want to use) MPNews?
I want to be able to have the forums be a primary means of communication, exchanging ideas, posting ads, etc. for a small group of people who are all members of the same organization(s) that I set up. By small group, I mean approximately 50 to up to about 300 or more members.
MPNews will do this!
I don't know all of the correct terminology, but I am assuming that:
1) "NNTP-type access" to the groups means the same type of access I am using now to access this Usenet-style newsgroup -- I set up the Outlook Express newsreader software and use that to participate here (via
news://news.messagepixels.com );
Correct.
2) "web-based access" to the forums or discussion groups means accessing them through the Internet where the same messages appear in a graphical discussion group type of format (via
http://news.messagepixels.com and click on discussion groups);, and,
Yes.
3) there may be an "email-based access" to the forums or discussion groups, but I am not sure of that.
There is a mailing list module for advanced use but you might prefer in the
beginning to see if the email notification options already fill most of your
expectations.
Email notifications simply advise users that a new message is posted and they
should visit your site via NNTP or Web browser to read the new messages.
(Users who are aware of RSS feeds can instead subscribe via some browsers and
all RSS tools to discover new messages postings automatically. No need to
think about RSS in the beginning unless you know about RSS already 
- )
Here's what I need:
A) the ability to have members of my organization(s) register or sign up to join the discussion forums and have me approve them by first verifying that the are current members of the organization;
Mark added this facility very recently on request by users.
We run Safety awareness private forums and it's important that teachers are
able to check that students join groups appropriate to their class, age and
school - keeping out bogus signups.
B) the ability to have those members access and participate in the forums by either using the NNTP-type newsreader access or the web-based Internet; and,
This is the default - but imho you should also consider if any or all the groups
should be private (hidden from Google indexing and public eyes.)
C) if at all possible, the ability to have people who do not want to do either of the above, participate in the same discussions entirely through an email-based system the way that Yahoo Groups allow group members to participate entirely via email.
This can be done capably through the MPNews mailing list module.
(We've implemented some tweaks here for software support to allow private support
requests to be made to via email or webpage which are then emailed onward to
support staff. By keeping copies of requests and answers together on a private
hidden forum other support staff know which requests are answered and can add
supplimentary comments if required.
And, more than anything else, I need someone who fully understands how this newsgrouphosting service works and who can help me one-on-one to get everything set up exactly the way I want it (assuming that is possible). I would be willing to pay someone to help me with that as long as it isn't too expensive to do so, and it doesn't have to be you or someone from your company - just someone who can help me make this work.
newsgrouphosting service:
Some settings can only be adjusted by Chris (site admin - master server) as opposed
to you (virtual server admin - your personal site at newsgrouphosting) who has
access to the majority of settings.
Any feedback from anyone would be appreciated. I can explain more if needed, and I will respond if there is any discussion here about this.
Great!
HTH,
Paul
Thanks.
Nick