Electronic Discussion Lists (Listservs)

Electronic Discussion Lists (Listservs)

Now that you've become familiar with sending and receiving email from individuals (like me), it's time to talk about electronic discussion lists. Most commonly known as listservs (R), these lists are a way for geographically separated professionals, scholars, and enthusiasts to congregate and communicate on a topic of interest. I have participated in several electronic discussion lists over the past few years and have found my participation to be very rewarding on several levels. Perhaps the best aspects for me are that electronic discussion lists help me to stay aware of developments in my field and easily enter discussions with leading practitioners. I believe you can duplicate my experiences by selecting electronic discussion lists of your own.

Two technical notes before we begin. First, "listserv" is the name of a software program that can distribute email to an unlimited number of users. It is not the only such program, but it has become the generic term for these types of lists because it's quite common and was the first program available. You will also see other discussion lists based on programs with names such as ListProc, Mailserv, or Majordomo. To keep things simple, I will primarily discuss Listserv (R) electronic discussion group commands here, since you will typically be given additional specific directions on how to subscribe to a particular group when you become aware of it (e.g., via a friend's recommendation, a magazine article, etc.).

Second, as you plan to subscribe to electronic discussion lists, consider what you're getting into before you start. Some lists have a dozen subscribers and some will have several thousand. Some will only produce a few messages a week while others will send out thirty per day. I suggest that you go slow at first and subscribe to one electronic discussion list at a time. Spend a few days or a week assessing if the electronic discussion list is truly of interest to you and how busy it is.

Once you subscribe to a group or "list," you will be sent a digest of commands that can be used with its particular software package. *PLEASE SAVE THIS MESSAGE.* It will come in handy later if you wish to leave the group or alter your subscription.

Basic Electronic Discussion List Commands

The commands I list below will get you started with electronic discussion lists. Let me first describe the conceptual framework behind your communication with the discussion group and with the electronic discussion group software.

When you want to send a message to the members of the electronic discussion group so that all the subscribers can read it, you address the message like this:

To: listserv@full.internet.address

For example, if you wanted to send a message to the members of the K12-SL Listserv (a electronic discussion list which provides support and information to K-12 service-learning practioners) you might send an email message to:

k12-sl@lists.etr.org

In order to subscribe to the listserv, you would have to send an email to:

join-k12-sl@lists.etr.org, following these instructions:

1. Leave the subject line blank
2. Remove any appended signatures

OR (if you're really confused or anxious about this lesson)

via a web interface at http://lists.etr.org/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=k12-sl

Keeping this distinction in mind is important! Many a kind student doesn't realize that when they are sending messages to a electronic discussion list they are usually communicating with a computer--and computers are DUMB! Students write flowery and impassioned messages in their futile attempts to subscribe: "Oh, please won't you let me join your list!" they write. The computer, looking for one (and only one) sequence of letters, dutifully responds with rejection after rejection...to the utter frustration of our kind student! Following the exercise below will help, but only if you follow it *exactly!*

How to Subscribe to a Electronic Discussion List

Start your preferred email program (including Web-based mail programs). Create a new message. Let's stay with our example group--K12-SL Listserv. To join K12-SL Listserv, send the following message to the electronic discussion group software at the site:

To: join-k12-sl@lists.etr.org

From: yourloginhere@augsburg.edu

Subject: (leave this blank)

Of course, you would type your email address where it says "yourloginhere@augsburg.edu." Leave the subject line blank when you send this message.

Also, do not include a signature file with your message. Why? Mailing list software is designed to run without human intervention, and it recognizes only a few commands. Since many email programs allow you to automatically append signature information to your outgoing email messages, you should suppress this feature (i.e., turn-off your signature) when you correspond with a electronic discussion list. If you do include your signature, you won't break anything. The software will probably just tell you that "John Doe"--or whatever you put in your signature file--is an unknown command.

If you follow these steps exactly, you should receive a confirmation message perhaps within a few seconds letting you know you have joined the list. If you don't get it right, you will receive an "undeliverable mail" message, again usually within a few seconds of your request. K12-SL Listserv is very prompt, but many other electronic discussion lists will take as much as 24 hours to respond to your request, so don't be disappointed if you don't hear back right away.

A word to the wise--if you attempt to do this lesson right before the class meeting in which it is due, you will be OUT OF LUCK! It may take several days to a week before you begin receiving messages from the electronic discussion list, so don't wait until the last minute to do the homework.

Also, for many electronic discussion lists you will also need to confirm your subscription. This is to make sure people don't subscribe to a electronic discussion list by mistake. If you successfully subscribe to K12-SL Listserv, it will send you instructions on how to confirm your subscription as needed.

Unsubscribing

The confirmation message you receive from K12-SL Listserv will tell you how to unsubscribe from the list.

How to Obtain Help With Other Electronic Discussion List Commands

When you successfully subscribe to a electronic discussion group, you will receive an email message with a digest of useful information and commands. SAVE THIS DOCUMENT! When and if you decide to drop-out of the list or change your status in some other way, this document is your bible!

How to Find Electronic Discussion Lists of Interest to You and Your Students

1. You can use web browser to find electronic discussion lists of all types.

Here are some recommended electronic discussion list-related WWW sites to get you started:
CataList is a catalog of LISTSERV lists. From this page, you can browse public LISTSERV lists on the Internet, search for mailing lists of interest, and get information about LISTSERV host sites.

http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html

A searchable list of discussion lists using Listserv software (and Usenet groups, a related resource) has been collected at:

http://tile.net/lists/
A brief page reviewing key ideas for group discussions and listing a few good reference sites is found at:

http://www.sharefile.com/content/email-discussion-groups.aspx

2. Join one electronic discussion list and soon folks will mention others that exist on related topics. This form of networking can be very useful at finding lesser know and non-indexed lists.

Posters and Lurkers

Simply put, posters are people who post, or send messages, to a electronic discussion list. Lurkers are those folks who don't actively participate in the group by posting. The ratio of lurkers to posters varies from list to list, but you can be sure that there are lots of lurkers out there. Many lists offer unlurking days to make lurkers feel more comfortable about posting for the first time. Lurkers can feel safe to post without being mocked by Net regulars 8-).

Unmoderated vs. Moderated Electronic Discussion Lists

There are typically two types of electronic discussion lists. The most common type is the unmoderated list, which means that a completely automated computer service re-sends each message addressed to the mail list, no matter how relevant (or irrelevant). No intelligent agent filters or *moderates* the discussion. Unmoderated lists have a high "noise to signal ratio," which means there are a lot of trivial messages distributed via unmoderated electronic discussion lists.

A moderated list is guided by a moderator, usually a person, who reads the messages sent to the list and determines whether they are worthy of being re-sent to the entire list. Some moderators edit and abstract each posting. This is a lot of hard work, which is why moderated lists are less common than unmoderated lists. Here are a couple of outstanding moderated lists:

The Internet Scout Report: An excellent electronic discussion group to which you should subscribe is The Internet Scout Report. The Internet Scout Report is really more an electronic newsletter than a true electronic discussion group, but it illustrates an exceptional use of the electronic discussion group concept.

The Scout Report is a valuable weekly chronicle of Internet news--what's new and interesting on the 'net. The Scout Report mailing list is a "distribution-only" list which is released once a week. Subscribing to the Scout Report mailing list means that you will automatically receive the electronic mail version of the Scout Report every Friday.

If you want to add yourself to this mailing list, you can send email with the following command in the body of your email message (with the subject line left blank):

subscribe scout-report Yourfirst name Yourlastname

to this address:

listserv@cs.wisc.edu

or, if you are really confused or anxious about the assignment, browse to: <http://scout.wisc.edu/About/subscribe.php>.

ASCD SmartBrief: Another good moderated list to which you might subscribe is the daily ASCDSmartBrief. ASCD SmartBrief is a free daily e-mail news service that provides summaries and links to major education stories and issues, as well as education employment opportunities. To subscribe, click this link: <http://www.smartbrief.com/ascd/>.

Discussion List Netiquette

Just as in email, proper netiquette is an important part of positive participation in electonic discussion lists. There are a number of things we can do to improve the quality of lists for the benefit of all. Most of these recommendations are simple and require little extra work. If you'd like to read a more detailed rationale for these suggestions, check out the Mailing List Manners 101 and 102 articles published by TidBITS at:

<http://db.tidbits.com/series/1141>

Email Program Settings Suggestions:

Turn off features (like VCards) that create attachments.
Avoid sending HTML-formatted messages to lists.
Send replies either to the sender or the list, but not both.
Make sure the time is set properly on your computer.

Writing and Layout Suggestions:

Don't use all capital letters for more than a word or two.
Insert blank lines between paragraphs.
Include full URL schemes, as in <http://www.tidbits.com/>.
Surround URLs with angle brackets (like in the line above).
Try to use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Message Content Suggestions:

Never send unsubscribe commands to the list.
Create and maintain descriptive subject lines.
Quote original text sparingly in your replies.
Don't include email attachments unless explicitly allowed.
Use a short signature containing only essential data.
Send welcome or congratulation messages via private email.
Respect other people's news.
Civility is always worthwhile.

Uses for Electronic Discussion Lists

Aside from the benefit of creating discussion and current awareness sources for folks, electronic discussion lists have a wealth of uses. Professional societies and organizations can use them for keeping members up to date on society business and activities. Companies can send out catalog updates to a mailing list of potential customers (this already exists, so we all have virtual junk mail 8-) ). Educators can use them to distribute class materials and give students an accessible forum for participation. There are great possibilities as yet untapped for distance learning efforts with electronic discussion lists. In the future, maybe you will see an ignored subject for which you will start a electronic discussion group!

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