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E-mail List User Guide

USER GUIDE INDEX

Introduction to E-mail Mailing Lists

A mailing list is a group of people who exchange messages as a group via E-mail. On announcement lists, only moderators can send messages, creating an E-mail-based newsletter. On discussion lists, any subscriber can send messages that are received by all the subscribers, creating an E-mail-based conversation.

The AFSC's mailing lists cost nothing to subscribe to. To subscribe, participate, and sign off, all you need is an Internet E-mail address.

Note: There are a number of AFSC-related mailing lists that are not moderated by the AFSC at list.afsc.org. These lists have a note in their descriptions stating who moderates them.

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Important Addresses

List Home Page Address: We use a program called Mailman to manage the mailing lists. Mailman displays Web pages that you can use to subscribe to, unsubscribe from, or change the settings for your lists. To find the list you are interested in, start at the AFSC E-mail Lists Page.

If you want to go directly to the Web page for a list, its address is:

Replace <listname> with the exact name of the list in lowercase (no capital letters).

List Addresses: Each AFSC mailing list has a name. After you have subscribed to a discussion list (described in the next section), you can send messages to all the subscribers of the list by sending a message to the list address, which is the list name followed by "@list.afsc.org". If you don't subscribe to the list, you usually can't send messages to the list.

List Manager Addresses: Each list is managed by one or more list managers. If are having trouble with a list (subscribing, signing off, or participating), you can talk to the list manager. The list manager's address is the list name followed by "-owner@list.afsc.org".

List Command Addresses: You can send commands to the Mailman program to do many things (including subscribe, unsubscribe and change email addresses), but it's probably easier to use the list's Web page instead. The list command address for each list is the list name followed by "-request@list.afsc.org". For a complete list of the commands you can use by email, please see the offical Mailman user's guide.

AFSC Addresses: The address of the maintainers of AFSC's mailing list server is:

list-manager@list.afsc.org

List Passwords

The Mailman program requires you to choose a password when you subscribe to a list through the web interface. You use this password later when you want to change your list settings or unsubscribe. Make a note of the password when you choose it. You may want to use the same password for all your AFSC lists, but don't use the password you use when you connect to the Internet or retrieve your E-mail.

Don't worry if you forget your AFSC list password(s); many lists send a password reminder once a month. If your list is not set up that way, you can still retrieve your password. To find out your password, send the one word command (in the subject line or message body) "password" to listname-request@list.afsc.org. If all else fails you do not have to have the password to unsubscribe from a list.

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Finding the AFSC List You Want

The AFSC has lists on a wide variety of topics. Each list has a short description of its purpose, for information about these lists see:

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Subscribing (Joining a List)

To subscribe to an AFSC E-mail mailing list to go to this page:

Find the list you are interested in and click the link to its page, which includes more information about the list. On the list's home page, in the "Subscribing" section, you can fill out a form with your E-mail address and a password that you choose (see List Passwords above). Choose whether you would like to receive messages individually or in a daily batch ("digest"). Then click the Subscribe button. 

For most AFSC lists, you'll receive a message by E-mail asking you to confirm your subscription (to make sure that some prankster did not sign you up). Reply to that message and you're on the list! In most E-mail programs, just click Reply and then Send. (Read the message for specific instructions.)

Finally, you will generally get a welcome message from the mailing list you just joined. Be sure to save this welcome message! Not only does it have useful information about the list, including the rules about participating, but it also contains instructions for how to get off the list if you decide to do so later. 

To subscribe via E-mail, send "subscribe <password>" to <listname>-request@list.afsc.org, replacing <password> with a password that you choose.

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Unsubscribing (Signing Off)

The easiest way to unsubscribe from an AFSC E-mail mailing list is to follow the instructions in your welcome message to go to your page for the list, type in your list password (the one you typed when you subscribed) in the Unsubscribing section, and click Unsubscribe.

If you don't have the welcome message for the list, go to the list's home page (see Important Addresses above). At the bottom of the page is a section for subscribers. Fill in your E-mail address and click the Edit Options button. You see the configuration page for your subscription. In the Unsubscribing section, type your list password and click Submit.

The other way to unsubscribe, from a list is to send a message with the word "unsubscribe" followed by your list password in the subject line to listname-request@list.afsc.org (replacing "listname" with the name of the list). For example, if your list password were "thoreau" and you wanted to sign off of the AFSC-L list, you'd send a message to AFSC-L-request@list.afsc.org with the words "unsubscribe thoreau" in the subject line. You can also send a blank email to: unsubscribe-AFSC-L@listafsc.org.

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Changing Account Settings (including Email address)

To edit your account settings, you can log in using the process described above, or you can take a shortcut to your account settings page: go to the web address

http://list.afsc.org/mailman/options/yourlistname/youraddress@example.org

where "yourlistname" is the name of the email list you're on (such as AFSC-L) and youraddress@exmaple.org is your email address. (If you have more than one email address, use the address at which you are
subscribed to AFSC lists. Use all lowercase.)

You will be prompted for your password. If you don't remember your password, click the button that says "Remind" and your password will be emailed to you.

Once logged in, you will see a page with the list options for the AFSC-L list. On this page you can change your name and e-mail address for the list.

To see a list of all the lists you are on, click the List My Other Subscriptions button. Click a list name to see information about that list, or click the Back button in your browser to return to the AFSC-L list options page.

Lower down on the page, in the "Change your Password" section, you can type a new password (twice) if you want to change it. To change the password for *all* your AFSC lists to this password, click the Change Globally check box. Then click the Change My Password button.

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Rules for Participating

In addition, the AFSC has rules for participating in AFSC lists, including the following (see the complete list of rules at http://www.list.afsc.org/mailman/listinfo//listpolicies.html )

• You may not use AFSC mailing lists for creating offensive or disruptive messages, including those containing sexual implications, racial slurs, or any comment that offensively addresses someone's age, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, national origin, or disability. If you persists in posting offensive or harrassing messages, the list managers may ban you from the mailing list.
• You may not use AFSC mailing lists for commercial announcements, except occasional announcements that are directly related to the topic of the list. For example, a book publisher might post messages about new books of interest to list subscribers. The list managers may ban you from the list if you post commercial announcements.
• Do not attach files to messages you send to lists. The AFSC has installed a program which will strip attachments from most of our E-mail lists as a protection against virus transmission. In addition, many subscribers' E-mail programs cannot deal with attached files, and many subscribers do not wish to receive attached files. If you persist in attaching files to postings, the list manager may ban you from the list.
• The AFSC neither endorses the contents of any AFSC mailing list users' communications nor assumes responsibility for any offensive material contained in them, nor any infringement of third party intellectual property rights arising from them. When you subscribe to a list, you agree to indemnify and hold the AFSC and its officers and employees harmless from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of the use of the AFSC's mailing list services.

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List Etiquette

Each mailing list has its own rules of list etiquette, as determined by the list's managers and subscribers. Following are some additional etiquette guidelines:

• Don't "flame:" "Flaming" is sending messages that are far more belligerent, sarcastic, accusatory, or just plain mean than you would be in person. Something about E-mail prompts otherwise polite, kind people into acting like TOTAL JERKS on mailing lists (see -- that was a flame right there!). If you are tempted to send an angry message, take a walk around the block first.
• Don't talk if you don't have anything to say: Put that way, this rule seems pretty obvious. But lots of people post messages that say "Me too!" or "I agree!" when they don't have anything to add to the discussion.
• Don't be fancy: Send messages in plain text, without HTML formatting. For instructions on sending plain text E-mails, go to http://www.expita.com/nomime.html.
• Use descriptive subject lines: When writing a new message or replying to a message, make sure that the subject line describes your message as specifically as possible. Never send a message with the subject "Help!" when it could say "Need 4th grade curriculum about Islam."
• Identify yourself: Most E-mail programs let you define a signature which appears at the end of each message you send. Your signature should be no more than four lines long and include your name, your E-mail address, your Web home page (if any), and a pithy quote or tag line. Don't include "ASCII art" (pictures made out of punctuation), your mailing address or phone number, or more than four lines.
• When replying, include the relevant part of the original message: Most E-mail programs provide way to "quote" the text of the message you are replying to. When people read your reply, they may not remember exactly which message you are replying to. Including the message puts your message in context. On the other hand, delete the parts of the message that aren't relevant, so each reader doesn't have to wade through headers, signatures, and other stuff that doesn't pertain to your message.
• Reply privately when your message isn't of interest to the group: When you reply to a message, consider whether to send your reply to the mailing list or to the person who wrote the message you are replying to. If you want to make a point that contributes to the group discussion, post your reply to the mailing list. If you want to criticize, ask a personal question, or ask something off the topic of the list, send your reply directly to the person who wrote the message.
• Don't post chain letters: It doesn't matter how worthy the chain letter sounds! Don't post messages to a list unless you personally know the information in it to be true. All the recent messages about computer viruses have proven to be bogus, so don't waste everyone's time with them. Ditto for sending postcards to dying children or news flasshes about proposed modem taxes. And messages that purport to help you "make money fast" are, like all pyramid schemes, illegal. Just say no -- delete chain letters and don't pass them along. To check out Internet scams, go to the U.S. Government's Computer Incident Advisory Capability Web site at http://www.ciac.org/ciac.

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Complaint Resolution Process

If you have a complaint about the messages on a mailing list or about the way the list is run, write to the list manager (see "E-mail Addresses" earlier in this page). If the list manager doesn't solve the problem and you still have a complaint, write to the AFSC's Mailman Site Managers at list-manager@list.afsc.org .

Click here to read the the process for conflict resolution in detail.

For non-mailing list questions or complaints, write to info@list.afsc.org .

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Reading List Archives

Some mailing lists maintain archives, which are files that you can download. These files usually consist of the back messages for the mailing list, so you can catch up with the stuff that happened before you subscribed.

You can read the list archives on a set of Web pages maintained by a program called PiperMail. To read the archives of a list, go to

Replace listname with the exact name of the list in lowercase (no capital letters). Under the first heading you'll see a link to the list's archives.

Most list archives are open only to list subscribers, although some are public. If the archives are available only to subscribers, type your E-mail address and list password into the boxes and click the Let Me In button.

For each month, you can see the messages by thread (that is, a message and all the replies to it), by subject (alphabetically by subject line), by author (sender), or by date. You can also download a file of all the messages.

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