ABOUT EMAIL "LISTS" 1997 William J. Beaty An email "list" or "listserv" is an online discussion group which uses email for communication. It's like having a bunch of email penpals, all of whom send email to the whole little group. It's like a Usenet Newsgroup that's delivered right to your email box. It's like participating in the meeting of a small club, where the conversations take place in slow motion, and where the meeting is still going on whenever you arrive. CONTENTS: How "Lists" work Subscribing and Unsubscribing The Instructions Topics of "Lists" Subscription charges Sending messages Subscription charges The List Owner Moderated lists Lurking Introductions, Etiquette Messages per day Topic Threads "Flamewars" and Psychology A Joke How "Lists" work When you are subscribed to a list server, you will constantly receive email messages sent by the other subscribers. The message are just like any other email. You yourself can participate in the "conversation" by sending your own email to a special address (the List Address.) Your message will automatically be sent to all the other subscribers. Some lists allow you to simply "reply" to any received message, and your reply will go to all other subscribers. (Mine work this way.) Subscribing and Unsubscribing Different listservers handle the subscription process in different ways. For some lists you must ask the owner to add your address to the subscribership. For others, the process is automated, and you must send a "command" message to a special email address (the List Server address.) For example, my lists are automated, and to subscribe yourself, you must send a blank email message to somelistname-request@eskimo.com, and place the word "subscribe" in the subject line of the email message. The Instructions When you subscribe to a list you will usually receive an automatic "welcome" message. Print and save this message, since it usually contains "Unsubscribe" instructions, rules, email addresses of the list maintenance person, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), location of the message archives and list's website, etc. Don't lose the unsubscribe instructions, or you won't be able to turn off the flow of messages! Topics of "Lists" Particular lists have particular topics. There are many thousands of lists on the internet. See http://amasci.com/scilists.html for a list of science-oriented email lists, and for links to PAML, TILE, and other webpage libraries of "lists" having other topics. Email lists are traditionally free of charges. The term "subscribe" means to "sign up," rather than to pay for a subscription. A few rare lists do require payment, but this is heavily publicized in their welcoming messages and/or webpages. Unless stated otherwise, list subscriptions are free. Sending messages Note that the subscribe/unsubscribe commands always go to a different email address than do the messages to the readership. Read the "welcome" message to find these email addresses. To send a message to all the subscribers, you send your message to the main list address. The main email address of a list is usually of the form: topic-l@somewhere.com, or topic-list@somewhere.com. Don't mistake the lower-case "L" in "topic-l" for the number "1", or your messages will go to a nonexistent location. An easier way to send mail to the subscribers is to reply to one of the messages you've received. I often simply select "reply", then delete the subject line and the message before writing my own message. The List Owner An email list will have a list-owner or "moderator"; a person who runs the software, keeps conversations on topic, answers private questions, ejects troublemakers, etc. You can ask this person for help, but as a list moderator myself I personally must say FIRST ALWAYS READ THE "WELCOME" MESSAGE OR LIST "FAQ", SINCE YOUR QUESTION MIGHT ALREADY HAVE BEEN ANSWERED THERE! Moderated lists All lists have an owner, but some lists are "Moderated", meaning that not all messages are welcome. When a list is "moderated", all of your messages are first sent to the moderator to be inspected and passed along to the rest of the subscribers. "Moderated" lists have a small range of acceptable topics. They are intentionally censored, in the same way that the editor of a magazine "censors" certain magazine articles by rejecting them and returning them to the author. Some lists are "announce only", meaning that they are only used for distribution of announcements by the list owner, and any messages sent by the subscribers will only go to the owner and never to the other subscribers. Lurking It is *usually* acceptable to listen in on a list without ever sending messages at all. This is called "lurking". Most lists have a majority of lurkers and just a few people "talking." This is normal, since if everyone talked all the time, the volume of messages would be enormous. If a list has 100 subscribers and each one sends only one message per month, then there will always be several conversations going on. But if everyone lurks always, there will be no conversations at all. Subscribers should always be on the lookout for opportunities to jump in and converse a bit, or to make an observation, or to send a question to start a new subject thread. A rare few lists frown on lurking. Therefor always check the "welcome" message for the policy of a particular list. Introductions, Etiquette When first subscribing to a new list, it's always wise (and polite) to read the messages for awhile first before jumping into the conversation. Even better, locate the list "archives" if they exist, and read the past weeks' messages. Some lists have very low traffic, so it sometimes is a good idea to introduce yourself when you first join the list, since this can start conversations. (Some lists *require* that new subscribers introduce themselves. Check the welcome message for the list's policy.) Messages per day Most lists are pretty safe regarding traffic volume, but some rare lists have hundreds of messages per day, so always be prepared to Unsubscribe quickly if you get overwhelmed, (and don't ever lose your Welcoming message with the "Unsubscribe" instructions!) Some lists offer a "digest mode", which causes the messages to be distributed in single emails which each contain many messages. "Digest mode" keeps your inbox from being filled with scattered list messages. But it prevents you from timely participation in conversations, since normal messages are distributed within hours, while digests might arrive every few days. Topic Threads There are usually several independent "conversations" going on at any one time on a list. These are called "threads", and can be sorted out by inspecting the subject line of the messages. If the subject is the same for several, those messages are a single "thread." Some email programs will let you sort separate message threads into separate mailboxes, so you can read continuing conversations in correct time-order without interruptions. "Flamewars" and Psychology "Insult wars" frequently break out on internet discussion groups. A few people enjoy these and will start them intentionally. But many more Flamewars exist than can easily be explained by intentional troublemakers. It seems that the psychology of email itself can start flamewars. Email messages are "low bandwidth", meaning that the writing usually lacks critical information about how to interpret the messages, and it lacks most of the emotional communication of face-to-face conversation. As a result, messages usually can be interpreted in several different ways. A person can send an innocent message which is "heard" as sarcasm or vile insults by the person who receives it. (The reverse can also happen, intentional insults can be "heard" as benign, but missed insults usually cause no problems!) Flamewars usually are triggered *not* when one person insults another, but when one person *takes* insult when reading a message having innocent intent. The offended reader then hurls a real insult in return. The first party feels unjustly attacked, since after all they did not send any original insults, and so they respond with insults of their own. And so a "war" has been triggered through misunderstandings. Same as with nations. Same as with little kids, and just like with parents and kids, the participants will often end up saying "well she started it, no he did, no she did", and the moderator steps in and says "I don't care who started it, you both participated, both of you go stand in the corner." The solution? Simple. Be nice. Don't hurl insults via the list, even if someone else insulted you first. Either ask if the insult was intentional, or if you must, send your responding attack directly to your target and *not* to the email list. If you feel that someone has unjustly attacked you, and you feel justified in defending yourself in public with attacks of your own, then you have fallen for the Flamewar psychology, and you are no better than nations who go to war for no reason. On the other hand, if all real (or imaginary) insults go right past you with no effect, then you would make a good email list moderator! A JOKE Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 09:20:56 GMT From: Nite Owl <***les.beecher@xtra.co.nz***> Subject: HUMOUR: How many internet mail.............. Q: How many internet mail list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb? A: 1,331: 1 to change the light bulb and to post to the mail list that the light bulb has been changed 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently. 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs. 27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs. 53 to flame the spell checkers 156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list. 41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames. 109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb 203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped. 111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we are all using light bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this mail list. 306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique, and what brands are faulty. 27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs 14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to post corrected URLs. 3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this list which makes light bulbs relevant to this list. 33 to concatenate all posts to date, then quote them including all headers and footers, and then add "Me Too." 12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy. 19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three." 4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ. 1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup. 47 to say this is just what alt.physic.cold_fusion was meant for, leave it here. 143 votes for alt.lite.bulb. ------------------------------ Enjoy NITE OWL