Mailing lists and 'listservs'

Email lists or 'listservs' are electronic mailing lists that make it easy to reach multiple email addresses by sending a message to a single email address. They can be particularly useful for nonprofit organisations in managing online community discussions.

One of the most useful features of listservs is that you can send the same message to many people at once. Similarly, you can also receive many messages in an organised manner. With many listservs, subscribers can send responses to messages around to the rest of the list by just replying to the original email.

How they work

Listsevs are small programs with automated tasks that differentiate them from ordinary email. For example, the process of joining the list (subscribing) or leaving it (unsubscribing) is automated and doesn't require any work by someone in your organisation. Members of the mailing list do not need to have the program on their PCs or network

You can ask your internet service provider (ISP) to help you set up a listserv. There is normally a small annual charge for this. An alternative, especially for small organisations wanting to use the process for relatively simple purposes, is to set up your own web-based listserv through commercial portals such as YahooGroups.

The list owner can find out who is subscribed to a listserv (and there is often an option for members to find out this information).

Email lists are useful for groups of people (typically 10 to 50) who are organised around a specific subject or interest area, and need to communicate regularly. Email lists can be used for simple things like scheduling meetings, forwarding ‘FYI' information, and simple notifications. Or, it can be used to carry on online ‘conversations' in which group decisions can be made, documents reviewed, and feedback gathered.

Listservs allow every member of the group to easily communicate with every other member of the group; because the list of subscribers is centrally maintained and there is no need for each person to maintain their own address book of members.

Two basic types of listservs

In an announcement type of listserv the owner of the list is the only one who writes, and members receive postings from the owner frequently. These types of listservs are also known as receive-only lists.

With discussion types of email lists, anyone can send a message that will be sent to everyone's inbox on the subscription list. Discussion lists can be either moderated or unmoderated.

Moderated lists

Moderated lists are screened by a person. That means that if you send an email to the list, the moderator is given the chance to check it before it goes to anyone else. Only the messages meeting the list's – or the moderator's – standards of relevance or propriety are posted.

There are two kinds of moderated lists:

• the kind where the messages get sent through the moderator who then posts them; and 
• the kind where the moderator collects the messages, and produces the content based on what people send to the list. 

Moderated lists often have a searchable archive.

Unmoderated lists

These lists are open and members can post messages quickly and without interference. They are mostly used for small, closed groups where people know each other reasonably well.

While there are no delays because there is no moderator to review the messages, unmoderated lists with open membership can end up with all the problems of chat rooms – crowded with irrelevant, badly thought-out or even nasty messages.

If you choose to use an unmoderated list, keep an eye out for poor email practice and comment when you see it. With larger lists make sure to implement and enforce strict policies about what can and cannot be submitted.

Some basic tips on participating in listservs

• Save the first subscribe message, as it will have important information on how to unsubscribe.
• Remember that you are addressing a group of people. Think about the best and most succinct way to present your message. Be considerate of other people's time. Be sure to make the subject heading for your message clear and focused.
• Read the subject headings to decide whether or not you want to read a message.
• Similarly, use subject headings (for example: JOB, or OFF-TOPIC) in your subject headings when you post a message.
• When responding to a thread, don't include the entire discussion from below. It takes a long time to load for some users.
• Set up mailboxes, or filters in your inbox to organise your messages.

[Thanks to www.techsoup.org]