List ServersLast updated on June 26, 1996
The Internet provides you with access to a bewildering array of electronic mailing lists. These are supported by individual list owners and institutions on the Internet as a public service. Email lists are supported by mail reflector programs like listserv, listproc, maiser, majordomo, mailproc, and others. All have similar functions and capabilities and are accessed in about the same way using email. All serve a particular purpose or a specific interest group. Email lists may be moderated, with access restricted to subscribers only, or open to unrestricted access by any Internet user. In many cases it is necessary to subscribe to an email list before you can send any postings to it. No one knows how many email lists there are on the Internet. They are difficult to find but the benefits of membership in an appropriate email list is so great that you will locate some to which you'll want to subscribe. Email lists work this way: Everyone who wants to receive email from the list server subscribes by sending an email message to the server requesting to be added to the list. Messages sent to the list are reflected out to everyone subscribed to the list including the sender. It's a wonderful way to engage in electronic discussions, keep up on current events in your field of work, keep in touch with people with similar interests, etc. Discussions on a given topic on which there is give and take on the list are called threads, and are generally traced by the list server for the convenience of the subscribers. List owners may also provide archives of past messages that are searchable and retrievable via email. Many list owners also operate corresponding newsgroups (pg. 9). The same general list of good Netiquette practices and general dos and don'ts that apply to email and newsgroups also apply to list servers. There is one firm rule that you will learn in the breaking: Never send a subscription request to a list. Send all subscription requests to the list server that supports the list. When you send a subscription request to a list everyone already subscribed to the list gets a copy of your subscription request. This informs them all that - 1. you're a newbie, and 2. you don't know what you're doing. It does not, however, inform the list server that you want to subscribe, so it's worse than useless. You can count on several list subscribers to tell you so via email when you make the mistake. You're going to do this at least once. Everyone does. Apologizing to the list is considered bad form. It's just another unwanted message from you that everyone already subscribed to the list has to deal with. The best way to apologize to the list is to help out a newbie, like you used to be, in private instead of flaming him or her publicly on the list.
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