How can I converse with people on Facebook using an email client and no browser?

Question

I don't like Facebook for a host of reasons, and have avoided setting up an account. However, I'm under pressure to do so because of group communications which are taking place on Facebook solely, in a certain Facebook group, leaving me "out of the loop".

I was thinking that perhaps I could utilize Facebook's auto-generated email addresses, and their email notification mechanism, to arrange it so that I only use an email client to conduct Facebook business:

• Be sent a copy of new posts/notes/comments/whatever (i.e. the contents, not just the notice of its existence)
• Be sent a copy, or a direct link, to files that are posted
• Be able to post replies/notes/comments/whatever in continuation of discussions - by sending email
• Avoid being sent other things I'm not interested in, like requests to 'friend' me etc.
• Be notified whenever a relevant discussion/thread/exchange-of-comments/wall-notes/whatever is started

I also thought maybe there's some less-direct way to achieve this, e.g. a mail client plugin, a server constituting some Facebook-to-email bridge, etc.

Notes:

• I'm using Mozilla Thunderbird as a mail client.
• I would rather avoid solutions based on proprietary software and/or Facebook's commercial collaborations.

Answer 1

In Facebook | Notification | e-mail you can customize receiving email notifications of events that you would already be notified of on Facebook, (so this essentially auto-forwards notifications from Facebook to your specified email) - although I don't believe that would work for conversing with others very well.

Other alternatives to not using the Facebook site would be linking your Facebook account with other applications like Skype or using some sort of social media management like hootsuite.