An electronic discussion list is a specialized system through which people conduct discussions and
exchange messages with each other on a topic of common interest. These lists resemble bulletin  
boards but these come in the form of email. To be able to participate in a mailing list, you will 
have to join that list first by subscribing to that list. By subscribing, you have to send an email to 
the list owner or the list server by either placing a subscribe <list name> <first name> <last name> on
the body of the message; or by sending a blank email to the list server. Unless you join a list, 
whatever  you send to that list will be ignored and will bounce back.  

Why join a list? Membership in a mailing list that shares your interest may be useful for obtaining  
needed information quickly. Being on a list enables you to share ideas, get help, and network with  
colleagues. If you are new to computers, the PC-Newbie mailing list is an excellent mailing list for
you. You can send an email to majordomo@lists.sonic.net with the command subscribe pc-newbie in
the body of the message. Here, everything from icons to booting up problems to soundcard and  
printer installation to drivers are exchanged. All you have to do is ask and tell the people on the  
list what your problem is and you'll get replies right away.  

Lists are often moderated, meaning there are list moderators who first check the contents of the  
email that will be sent out to the rest of the group. Moderators often have a certain set of rules  
that they send out to people who subscribe to their lists. This often prevents flames and heated  
arguments within a particular list. They also maintain the right to remove a person from their list 
if  the person ignores or does not follow the list rules. Other lists are restricted, which means 
that only certain individuals can join the list and every subscription request will have to be 
approved by the list owner or moderator first. An example of a restricted list would be a mailing 
list used solely as a workshop list wherein those signed up in the list are participants in the 
workshop.  

Lists could also be unmoderated. There are no moderators and flaming is a free-for-all kind of  
thing. You could spend your time here fighting and exchanging hot words with the others and you  
won't be booted out. Unmoderated lists are usually not for the faint-at-heart, since no one really  
moderates what goes on in the list and the only option for those who can't stand flamings is to  
unsubscribe to that list. Of course, an unmoderated list could still resemble a civilized list,  
especially when its list owner maintains certain rules such as no flaming, no rude comments, no  
fighting, no announcement of pornographic sites and such. Most announcement lists are  
unmoderated and are used to announce web sites, jobs, articles, and ezines. One such type 
of unmoderated list is the Sites and Zines! announcement list. In this list, subscribers may post  
information about their web sites and ezines twice a week. To subscribe to this list, send an email
to sitesandzines-subscribe@onelist.com. 

There are also lists that are strictly for announcements.  Subscribers cannot send to that list,  
rather only the list owner could send announcements. This is particlarly the case for ezine  
publishers. They utilize the list as a venue for distributing their newsletters. An example of this  
kind is the Sites, Biz and Zines! newsletter distribution list. The newsletter is sent out every  
Friday, notifying its subscribers of new articles posted on the site, http://webmarketingspecialists.com/sbz. To subscribe to Sites, Biz and Zines!, send an email  
to sitesbizandzines-subscribe@onelist.com. Another example of this type of list is Positive Quotes, 
a daily motivational/inspirational ezine. To subscribe to PQ, positivequotes-subscribe@onelist.com. 

There are many levels of mailing list participation. Some subscribers are very active. They  
frequently post messages and reply to the messages of others. Other subscribers are "lurkers".  
They read messages, are well informed about the issues of the mailing list they're on, and may 
even benefit professionally from their subscription, but they do not post messages or reply to 
messages.  Most of us are somewhere in between.  

Your level of participation is up to you. However, it's a good idea if you spend some time lurking  
before you post a message to the entire group. That way, you'll gain an understanding of the  
current issues under discussion, as well as the unique "netiquette" of your particular mailing list.  

Within a day or two after joining a mailing list, you will start getting emails from the people in that
mailing list. Most mailing lists are active so don't be surprised if you get more than 50 emails in 
just one day. Because of this, it's a good idea if you join mailing lists sparingly. Join only those 
which really interest you. Also, you should also check your email regularly so you don't overstuff 
your mailbox  

In the past, LISTSERV was the most popular form of discussion list. Thousands of mailing lists 
are  run through LISTSERV. Here, subscribers can send mail to this special program to be 
automatically distributed by LISTSERV to each person on the list. This is certainly a convenient 
way to  communicate without human intervention.  

Mailing lists allow many types of communication to occur in every direction. Imagine one thousand  
people signed up in a list. Every opinion is read and shared by everyone. Every person in that list  
who has an opinion on the current topic could send in his or her opinion to the list. The result 
would be a dynamic exchange of information and opinions. And they all didn't have to be in the 
same room at the same time to be able to communicate!  

To find a particular list that interests you, you can send an email to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu with 
LIST GLOBAL <Your Interest> in the body of the message. This usually only takes a little under
two minutes. Once you have a list of related lists of your interests, you only have to follow the  
instructions on how to subscribe to that list.  

Aside from LISTSERV, web-based mailing lists are also available. Such Web-based mailing lists  
are ONELIST and e-Groups which has recently merged. Just like Web-base e-mail services, these 
Web-based mailing lists are free services. To find other discussion groups, you can also go to the  
Liszt Directory of E-Mail Discussion Groups, NeoSoft Publicly Available Mailing Lists or to the  
TILE.NET Reference to Internet Discussion Groups.  

----- 
Shery Ma Belle Arrieta is the author of the ebook, Every Beginning Writer's  
Guidebook on News, Feature and Creative Writing. She publishes Sites, Biz and 
Zines!, WIRED! Philippines and Positive Quotes.