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A mailing list is a list of people's names and addresses that is used to send certain messages or announcements to many people at once. These individuals are usually expected to share a common interest in the contents of the message -- just like in the real world. However, unlike in the real world, you can usually join and leave the list as you see fit, so there is a good chance that you will actually find at least some of the messages interesting. In fact, electronic mailing lists are more like clubs or magazines than a "real world" mailing list.
A mailing list is managed by a list owner (or sometimes several owners for large lists). The list owner is the person with formal responsibility for the operation of the list -- a kind of referee, if you want. The list owner defines the list's charter and policy, i.e. what the list is about and what are the general rules all subscribers must accept in order to be allowed to join the list. The list owner is also responsible for all administrative matters and for answering questions from the list subscribers. It is not unusual to have several list owners spreading the work and responsibility among themselves; in particular, it is common for a "technical" list owner to assist the non-technical person who is formally in charge of the list with administrative matters. In the case of the Techsavvy Program, the owner of the list is a faculty member of the program, William Dougan at UND.
The messages sent (or posted) to a mailing list may be saved in files known as list archives for future reference. These archive files are owned by the list owner who sets the policy for their use. The archives of messages on the list will be available if you use a set of commands to access them. Generally, you can keep a message that you think you will use, and a copy of it will also be kept in the archives.
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Now that you are subscribed to a list, all you need to do is ask your question or participate in the current discussion and wait for someone to answer.
Posting new messages
To post a new message to the list you send mail to the list address using the same procedure as when you send mail to other people. Your mail program does not need to know that you are sending to a list. The list address is the name of the list, followed by the name of the machine where it is hosted. For example, the name of the list for students and faculty parcticipating in the Techsavvy Program is TECHSAVVY@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU. ( NOTE that the address is given in all uppercase letters here, but it is not required when sending an email message to the list. The list will work even if you use lowercase letters. NOTE ALSO that the host address is @LISTSERV and not @LISTSERVE) Depending on how the list is set up, LISTSERV may or may not send you a copy of the messages you post.
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Once you become familiar with LISTSERV and mailing lists, you will probably want to respond to a posting you have read. Don't be shy! People will not get upset at you for contributing. The best way to respond is by using the "reply" function of your mail program (which is sometimes called "answer", "respond" or something similar). This way the message subject is preserved and the other subscribers can see that your message is a reply to the original question. You can of course post a new message, but you will then have to retype the subject, and if you enter something slightly different people may not realize it is a reply to a previous post. There is no universally correct place to send your reply. Most of the time, your reply will be useful to at least one other person on the list, but on the other hand that might be only a small fraction of the list membership, and some people might complain that you are wasting their time (some people say that anyway, so don't worry unless several people seem to share this opinion).
In general, if your reply is short there is little harm in sending it to everyone: it does not take much time to discard a message which is not interesting. On the other hand, if your reply is a 2000-line paper you wrote on the subject it might not be a good idea to send it to the list unless you are sure everyone is interested. Some people have to pay for mail by the character, or to download it to a personal computer through a low-speed modem. The best thing to do in that case is to send a short message to the list saying you wrote this paper, and that people who are interested can contact you for a copy. If you find a large number of requests in your mailbox the next morning, contact the list owner and suggest that they make the paper available from LISTSERV, so that subscribers who are interested can order it directly from the server and you are not interrupted every few minutes with a new request.
Most lists are organized as "forums" where public discussion is actively encouraged, and many of them are set so that hitting the "Reply" key or button will automatically direct replies back to the list. Unfortunately, this can sometimes be embarrassing if you end up inadvertently sending a private comment to the whole list. Fortunately, there is a very easy way to avoid this, and the good thing is that it works even for non-LISTSERV mail. It is a simple rule that is easy to remember once you understand its purpose:
Always think before sending any message!
Ask yourself a few simple questions
Who is getting the message? Carefully check who your mail program intends to send the message to, and make sure this is where you wanted it to go. It is easy to click on the wrong icon, press the wrong key, misunderstand the meaning of a help file, or otherwise do something that will make your computer send the message to the wrong people. Computers are not perfect and they sometimes do unpredictable things to perfectly valid messages. It may be a rare occurrence, but it happens; any system manager will have a lot of juicy stories to tell you about messages that were forwarded to him because they caused some system problem or other, and whose contents could have made a couple people lose their job if it had been shown to the right person. Have you removed extraneous information not germane to the discussion, such as copies of previous postings included by my mail program or long signature files?
You want to ask yourself these questions anyway, even if the message has nothing to do with LISTSERV, even if the list is set up to reply privately by default. In a non-computer situation, you would probably look around to see if someone can overhear you. If you develop this habit, you will never send to a list by mistake.
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The Internet, just like the real world, has its share of impatient people. While there isn't much one can do about it, it would be silly to avoid using the Internet simply for fear that someone might speak harshly to you in public one day. Sooner or later, it will happen, and the best you can do is to be prepared for this. When it does happen, the only thing you absolutely must not do is whack the "reply" button and send off a stream of nasty retorts to your offender - or if you absolutely must, at least make sure that you do so in private. All you would achieve with a stream of harsh words is what is called a "flame war" in network jargon - dozens of people casting insults at each other, and a very swollen mailbox. Replying harshly to someone on a public list is very much like punching someone in the face in a crowded bar near closing time; don't do it unless you want to get into a fight that could be painful for everyone.
Now, of course, you may truly have been misinterpreted and some factually incorrect statements have been made about you, or your words may have been twisted around to make them sound like you meant exactly the opposite of what you said. A public reply may be appropriate, in much the same way that one would write to the editor of a newspaper and request the publication of a formal reply to "straighten out the facts". The important thing, however, is to avoid content-free messages where no misinformation is corrected, no point is made and all that is ever exchanged is insults.
Another point to consider is that, sometimes, people are having meaningful discussions in a tone that appears inappropriate to you, but that may seem perfectly normal to them. As long as their messages contain useful information, there is no point in trying to police the interaction, both because it is the list owner's job, and because adults are unlikely to change their behavior in any significant way, especially if the people complaining are new to the list. If you want the list owners to take action, it is better to write to them directly, so that you do not end up being labelled as "one of the people running the flame war". If you just want to publicly express your indignation, it is best to type the message and pause, just before sending it, to consider whether you are doing this in the general interest or for your personal satisfaction. Most mail programs let you cancel a message.
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Following are some other resources that pertain to LISTSERVs..
The following links will allow you access to the ODIN online search system, interlibrary loan information, and Chester Fritz Library resources..
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