Mail Lists and Web-Groups

Communicating the common interest

The Internet allows us to communicate cheaply and easily with people around the world.

Q: What if we don't know anyone around the world to communicate with?
A: Find people with common interests!

Mail groups and lists allow us to gather people from near and far and join a virtual community, to discuss topics, answer questions, or share common experiences.

List'ory

Mailing lists and web-groups provide a medium for anyone with email to participate in a discussion. The group can contain anywhere from 2 members to a few hundred members, and can have very broad or very specific topics. Groups can be open for public subscribing, or private by invitation only. Finally, we can select our own involvement in the group: we can be the silent observer or an active participant.

Web forums are not new to the Internet. Their most original state was as Newsgroups, which were threaded discussion lists on thousands of topics. An individual needed newsreader program, and needed the technical skills to connect to, find, sift through thousands of messages to find something helpful. Some determined that Newsgroups were too complicated and overwhelming, and at times, unhelpful. Mailing lists were born. These lists integrate the newsgroup ideas of information sharing with the simplicity of email, and an added twist of membership and camaraderie. Newsgroups still exist, but their popularity is fading due to the features and simplicity of mail list services.

Yahoo! Groups, the user-friendly mail list service we will use, boasts 900,000 groups and 18 million members. Other list directories boast over 90,000 lists. We will use Yahoo! Groups for their flexibility in membership, availability in group topics, messaging options, and administrative simplicity.

Why join a mail group community?

• Discuss common interests.

• Share experiences with others who would benefit from your feedback.

• Create a closed list, and keep in touch with friends or family.

• Send a business or interest newsletter.

• Seek assistance and support (technical, emotional, informational) from others.

• Provide assistance and support (technical, emotional, informational) for others.

• Maintain anonymity when discussing something private.

• Participate only when you want or when you're comfortable.

Groups consist of topics ranging from discussions about amateur astronomy, Ringo Starr, and virtual support groups.

In search of a perfect group . . .

At the beginning, selecting the perfect group may be like finding a needle in a bunch of hay stacks. However, the people at Yahoo! Groups organized their groups in a hierarchical directory, similar to Internet directories. This may be a good time to review the lesson on Internet directories from Intro to the Internet.

Hobbies? Interests?
The first thing to do when searching for a group is to reevaluate your hobbies and interests. What's something you would like to know more about? What is something that you can talk about for a long time? How would you categorize your interests? How would eGroups categorize it? Check it out.

Active?
Wallflower? Participant? If you plan on sitting back and watching the conversation for a while, it may be a good idea to join a larger group. If you plan on being very active, and you want to be heard, maybe a group with under 100 members may be best.

Location?
Some groups spotlight regional issues. There's a bunch about Boston, and Boston culture (music, places, people). They may possibly plan gatherings among members.

How do Yahoo! Groups work?

Yahoo! Groups are free
Similar to many free things on the Internet, we have to pay the price of experiencing some sponsored advertising. Presently, Yahoo! Groups does a pretty good job of not sending advertisement emails to members, they only sneak ads in at the top or bottom of emails to group postings. Review Intro to the Internet If it's free, it's for me for a tips on how to avoid falling for ads and advertising tricks.

Membership required?
Most groups require membership to receive messages, to post messages, and to view message archives. The membership has individual and structural benefits: it filters out SPAM and ads from groups, it keeps discussions on track with the threat of banning members from groups, and prevents verbal attacks between members. Membership does require you to give some personal information which will be used for demographic info with Yahoo! Groups banner advertising. Some groups do not require membership to view discussions.

Hello inbox!
Depending on how active a group is, you can get between one email a week to fifty emails in a day. Luckily, we can determine how we would like our messages delivered. Our options are summarized in the table below:

Nothing is written in stone
All aspects of your membership are changeable after becoming members of a group. You can change your mail preferences. You can change your email address. You can change your password. You can subscribe to and unsubscribe from groups until your feet fall off. You can even request not to receive messages for a week if you go on vacation.

What are threads?
Threads are the initial email to a group (usually a statment or question), and all of the responses from other group members. The discussion back and forth is called a threaded discussion.

Groups in moderation
Some groups are moderated. This means that there is a list administrator who approves all incoming messages before they are circulated to the rest of the group. This has it's advantages in which you know that there is a filter monitoring all messages, allowing only quality postings to get through. The disadvantage is that the moderator can choose not to post your message if they do not feel it is relevant. Most Yahoo! Groups are unmoderated.

Mailing lists too?
You can also set up Yahoo! Groups as a mailing list service. In this situation, you cannot post to the list, you are simply subscribing to an informational newsletter with one author. This is usually used for various fan clubs, or organizations.

Things to remember

There are just a few things to keep in mind when interacting with groups:

Groups may have their own policies or FAQ
Some groups may create their own rules and policies, pertaining to language and content suitable for posting. Groups may also have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page of commonly posted questions to avoid having new members sending the similar messages. Check the group's main page to see if there are specific rules or limitations for the group.

Look out for Flaming
A flame is an abusive newsgroup or mailing list message. You can earn a flame from a mail group posting by asking inappropriate questions, or asking a common question which may be on the group's FAQ page. Most groups have policies against sending mean or negative email messages (see Bipolar-support example below). Remind people that being nice will make the world a much better place. Let the moderator know if someone is being abusive. They have the authority to boot the person.

Don't look for pro advice
While the people on these groups may seem to know alot, remember that we don't know exactly who they are. There is a chance that they are indeed an knowledged expert if the field of the group. There is also a chance that they are making it up as they go along. Their advice should never be taken in place of that of a professional. While the opinions and advice of others can be a great resource, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Our very own list

Activity!

Internet 2 now has their own multipurpose Yahoo! Group

• learn the process of joining an Yahoo! Group

• practice and master the concepts and skills of using an Yahoo! Group in a safe environment

• discuss classroom issues and projects with current Internet 2 students

• ask questions about course content which may be of benefit to other students

• maintain contact with present and future Internet 2 students

Click to join the "internet2bu" eGroup:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internet2bu/join/

Valuable email addresses once you join:
Post message: internet2bu@yahoogroups.com
List owner: internet2bu-owner@yahoogroups.com

A couple lists to think about

Here are a couple of diverse and interesting list options just to give an idea of what's out there:

List name	Description (supplied by group owners)	# members [as of 10/10/07]
digital-photography	"This list discusses all aspects of digital photography, cameras, scanners, retouching, anything you can think about! If you have a digital camera, please share your experiences. If you're thinking about getting one, please feel free to come ask for opinions." Other visual arts groups . . .	5062
aspiring_singer_ songwriters	"Do you write songs? Come and share them with us. We want to see the talent you people have. According to the law, songs are automatically copywrited if there's a date on it, so please don't join if you plan on stealing others songs. But if you're up to read others work, and submit your own, please join and you'll be happy." Other music groups . . .	949
Bipolar-Support	"Bipolar-Support is a group for those who have the disorder and want a place to share and support. It's intended to be a supportive environment, so aggressiveness toward other members will not tolerated. Please understand that rants and blowing off steam are vital parts of surviving this illness, so they will be allowed (in fact welcome) whenever they are not directed at another member. It is also requested that if you wish to post inspirationals, jokes, etc., they be limited to occasionally, so that the group may keep to the primary purpose. The list owner (Shawn-Bipolarcreature) is a certified support group leader (He prefers the term, facilitator). No archives will be available, in order to protect privacy. " Other Health/Wellness groups . . .	284
harryford	"This is a discussion mailing list on Harrison Ford. We discuss all aspects of his career, public and private." Other actors/actress groups . . .	274

Other resources:

Topica, the mailing list directory
http://www.topica.com/
Similar to eGroups. Look here for more list options.

Dr. John Grohol's Psych Central Resources
http://forums.grohol.com/
One of the mental health pioneers on the internet, Dr. Grohol reviews and collects quality mental health web sites. Click on a topic and select "support groups" for the mail list and resources on that particular topic.

Is your favorite topic not listed in any of these lists? You can start and moderate your very own discussion list or mailing list by going to Yahoo! Groups or topica.com. Enjoy.