Madhu's Corner :: Write :: Email Lists

This was pre Y! groups.
And when the internet was just a plain ole bunch of networks.

If your email access is the first thing that you have been able to effectively use, welcome aboard the Internet! The two major resources on the Internet that open up with email access are the Usenet and Mailing lists. Usenet is famous in it's own right (See Chip Dec. 1998), but mailing lists also contribute in a major way to the popularity of the Internet.

So, what then is a mailing list? A mailing list is a bunch of people who are all interested in the same ideas and who want to talk to each other. They then send their emails to a common email id from where it is sent to all the members of the list. Lists can be classified into two main halves. Open lists are normal lists that everyone and anyone can join and read. A closed list is a list where the joining and reading process requires prior approval by the list owner. Thus, closed lists are more private, more focussed but less popular.

Another classification of lists is into two types. Moderated lists (i.e. someone goes through a mail before it is sent to everyone) and those that are unmoderated (i.e. whatever is sent to the common id is sent to anyone). As with the Usenet, one must follow established netiquette as a member of a list and be aware of the common emoticons. Also, remember to read any instructions of the list, general or otherwise before you either post an email or respond to someone.

A list also may offer you the option of receiving mails in direct or digest form. A direct form means that as and when messages are sent to the list, they will be forwarded to you. A digest mailing list on the other hand waits either for a predetermined period of time or size interval. Then a chunk of messages is sent out. Both forms are popular, between then it is merely personal preference. There are three major software that are used to handle email lists. These are Majordomo, LISTSERV and CERN ListProc. The first two are the very common and we shall take a closer look at them.

Majordomo (Latin for "man about the house" - and who says this article is only about Computers!) is one of the most popular mail list clients on the Internet. It is small, free, written in Perl and was originally created by Brent Chapman. Work is going on in order to improve its facilities. Majordomo is unusual in the method it uses to maintain a list, as it handles the data of the list. The actual sending of emails in the list is to be handled by an independent email client. It can run off Perl (Version 5.002) so if you have installed Linux, that should be just right. The source code of Majordomo (Version 1.94) is freely available at ftp://ftp.greatcircle.com/pub/majordomo/majordomo.tar.Z. If you are looking for specific information on Majordomo, the FAQ site is maintained by David Barr (barr@pop.psu.edu). It can be downloaded from the ftp site ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers/mail/majordomo-faq.

Let's discuss Majordomo with a specific example. Assuming you wanted to subscribe to a list which is named pdg and whose address you found to be majordomo@ifi.uio.no . Since the list is called pdg you could also send mail to pdg-request@ifi.uio.no. The only difference between the two addresses is that for the second, you do not have to explicitly specify that you are referring to the pdg list. If you are sending mail to the majordomo address, the very first thing that needs to be done is to send to this address the line subscribe pdg
if you are sending this mail from some other address or else simply
subscribe pdg
if you are sending mail from the address that you want to receive it from. This format will also be used in the unsubscribe command, which works exactly as the subscribe command does. If you have any questions about the list or wish to speak to the moderator or incharge in case of some problems, it makes sense to send mail to owner-pdg@ifi.uio.no . If you are looking for help from the list, sending
help
in the body of the message to the majordomo address would yield the help for the list and the majordomo version.

Generally, most sites will reply back to you asking you to confirm that you have issued a command (subscribe/unsubscribe). Once, you have confirmed your decision, they will send a copy of their FAQ and/or other related information. Congratulations! You are now part of a list. To send mail to all the people on the list, you will have to send mail to pdg@ifi.uio.no. Therefore, if anyone (including you) posts to the list, a copy will automatically be sent to you.

LISTSERV (ver 1.8c) is a commercial product of L-Soft International. Originally known as BitNet LISTSERV, it was written by Eric Thomas. This is the most comprehensive and complete mail list client. It is also the most portable, flexible and user friendly client. However, it's not free and must be licensed. You could however, evaluate it from ftp:// ftp.spc.edu /listserv. For more information about either the product or sales information, please go to www.lsoft.com. This system is both robust and tested. If a list is to take care of a large number of subscribers and still work pretty efficiently, LISTSERV is the software that you need. To add, it also provides some very effective statistics that would help in analysis of the list. Some of it's useful functions are unique to this software such as the DISTRIBUTE mode of operation which save time and resources. LISTSERV also works almost exactly as majordomo does. Assuming the pdg list also had a LISTSERV version of the software running at LISTSERV@check.no, then to either that server or to LISTSERV@listserv.net or any other LISTSERV server you could issue requests. To get onto the list, a simple
subscribe pdg
would do. Again, a confirmation procedure is to be followed. Once this is complete, you are now a part of the list. You can send mails to pdg@check.no for the message to be sent to the list. To leave a list, issue a signoff command for that list by sending
signoff pdg
You could however, use the additional features of LISTSERV to explore who the other members of the list are, view the previous conversations and so on. To contact the owner of the list you have to send mail to pdg-request@check.no. For more general information on mailing list software, a pretty comprehensive source would be the Mailing List Management Software FAQ written by Aleks N. (naleks@library.ummed.edu) which is available from www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/list-admin/software-faq/ via the internet or via ftp from ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers/mail/list-admin/software-faq. This site deals with almost all the major mailing software and deals in some detail with the design decisions that you need to take when you setup your list.

The most famous site to get started on lists is www.liszt.com. This site is a comprehensive collection of list that can be accessed from the net. It is an elegant site that has thoughtfully organized the lists so you can reach the subject that you want quickly. You could also use CataListsm, the catalog of LISTSERV lists at www.lsoft.com/lists/LIST_Q.html. This is an effective method simply because of the volume of lists that use LISTSERV as their mail client. Another method to reach a list in an area is to search the net with the key words of your interest. Then you can refine that search to include mailing lists.

Voila, you should hit a list pretty quickly. So, what are you waiting for? Surf, subscribe to lists that interest you and get hooked on. Watch and soon your email client will become the reason for your addiction to the Internet. Replying to all those mails. And you actually thought that the Usenet was everything.