Mail Lists
Most of us are familiar with web
search services, but it is a bit harder to find relevant discussion list
groups. If you are interested in discussion lists, you may want to bookmark
the Liszt site, which exists for the purpose of putting you in touch with
one of the over 70,000 (!!) discussion lists it now covers. You can search
for the list you want by keyword, or by subject menu.
http://www.liszt.com/
Lists make it easy for a group of
people to have discussions via e-mail. Instead of each of you having to
send the mail message to each of the people who want to have the discussion,
you send the message to an e-mail address that identifies the list. The
message is then redistributed (called "exploded") to everyone
who subscribes to the list. Reading a list, then, is a matter of reading
your e-mail.
Once set up, the listserv can distribute
e-mail with very little human intervention. The only tasks for the list
owner are handling basic list maintenance (such as answering questions
from new users) and acting on error messages generated by the list's users/subscribers.
Each list has an associated owner(s).
The owner "manages" his/her list
via e-mail. Owners can add/remove subscribers, edit the information and
welcome files associated with the list, etc. In addition, owners can moderate
lists and receive various error messages related to them. If a list is
owner-moderated, all mail posted to the list will be sent to the owner
for approval. If a list is closed-subscription, all subscription requests
must be approved by the owner.
Listserv Terms 
list-- an e-mail address
you use for sending messages to the list's subscribers. Messages sent to
the list are redistributed to people who subscribe to it. Lists that originate
from NC State will have addresses in the form: listname@listserv.ncsu.edu.
listserv -- software that
controls a list. To subscribe to a list, people send e-mail to the listerv
program, not the list. The person who maintains a list also sends
maintenance commands to listserv. All commands and requests for NC State
lists are sent listserv@listserv.ncsu.edu (you can also use the mail alias
listserv@ncsu.edu).
listserver -- the generic
name for various types of software that operate lists
list owner -- person who
maintains a list (a list can have more than one owner, but one person must
be designated as the primary owner)
subscriber -- a person who
receives a list's messages
moderator -- a person to
whom a list's messages are sent for clearance before being sent to the
list's subscribers. All lists must have a list owner, but moderators are
optional.
post -- another name for
sending e-mail messages to a list.
archive -- electronic storage
of posts. Subscribers can get former postings for some lists
digest -- a file compilation
of messages sent to a list. For some lists (those that are "digestible"),
subscribers can get periodic digests instead of individual messages.
Essentials: Joining or leaving
a list
People usually join a list by sending
a message to the listserv software (never to the list itself). For example,
if Jane Doe wants to join a public list called Forum, she would send subscribe
forum jane doe as the body of her mail message to listserv@ncsu.edu
(the e-mail address for the listserv software controlling the Forum list).
If she wants to unsubscribe from the Forum list, she would send unsubscribe
forum to the same listserv address. If the list is closed or private,
the request will be forwarded to list owner for approval. Not all listserv
programs use the same commands, but the general method of subscribing is
similar for most, if not all of them.
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