HOW TO JOIN A MAILING LIST

E-mail lists, sometimes known as listservs, are interactive computer-based communications. E-mail lists can be manually administered by humans, or they can be automated by servers such as Listserv, or Majordomo.

Subscribing to a Manually Administered List

To subscribe to (join) a manually administered list, send a regular e-mail message to the administrator or owner of the list.

Subscribing to an Automated List

Automated lists have at least two accounts— for the server (the list ADDRESS) and one for the actual list (the list NAME). To subscribe to (join) an automated list, send an e-mail message to the list ADDRESS, not the list NAME, for the server to recognize the command. Examples are given for two of the more common types of automated lists— and Majordomo.

For Listserv lists:

• Leave the Subject: line blank
• In the body of the message, type only the following line:
  subscribe {listname} {yourfirstname} {yourlastname}
  ex: subscribe l-hcap Happy Golucky

For majordomo lists: Majordomo lists do not require {yourfirstname} and {yourlastname} in the message.

• Leave the Subject: line blank
• In the body of the message, type only the following line:
  subscribe {listname}
  subscribe spedex

Posting Messages to a List

To post a message to the list, send it to the NAME of the list in the TO: field.

Example:

TO: spedex@lists.cec.sped.org

To Find a List of Lists

A quick way to find a list of (the thousands of) lists is as follows:

Send message to:	listserv@listserv.net
With command in body:	lists global
Or:	lists global/[keyword]

where [keyword] is the topic of your choice (e.g., disability).

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ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education
Last updated: December 23, 1999