Mail Lists | An Example
		An Example As an example of how mail lists work, we shall subscribe to an automatic mail list associated with the organization, Kidlink. This organization houses many Internet projects for children. The general instructions for this mail list may be found at http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/sub.html The following is a condensation of the material found at that URL address that is used to illustrate the use of email to control a Mail List. You should consult the above link for the full set of current instructions if you wish to subscribe to this Mail List. We use a software program called Listserv to administer all our mailing lists. You join and leave conferences by sending a message to the Listserv at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA. Its email address is [email protected]. This is how you do it! You join a conference by sending the command subscribe conference-name your-first-name your-last-name to the Listserv's email address. Example: To join the Kidleader-Deutsch conference, send an email to . If your name is Tor Hansen, put the following line in the text of your message (not on the subject line): subscribe kidleader-deutsch Tor Hansen Now, replace "Tor Hansen" for your real name, and send the message. Another example: Your name is Ronald Bekkimellom, and you want to join the Kidcafe-Spanish conference. Send the following mail: To: [email protected] Subject: (Keep this blank) Text field: subscribe kidleader-deutsch Ronald Bekkimellom Replace Kidleader-Deutsch with the name of other mailing lists that you want to join. Actually, if you are a teacher interested in having your students participate in any of our dialogs, you can do this with a single email message containing all the commands. Here are some other examples: subscribe kidlink-spanish Tor Hansen subscribe kidforum-coord Tor Hansen What next? The Listserv will send you a message asking you to confirm your subscription to this conference. We use this to protect you from being subscribed by a third person without your consent. Simply reply to the message that the Listserv send you, and type OK as the text of your reply message. Do not change the Subject line's text. Example: To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Command confirmation request (23E5CC) Text field: OK Soon, the Listserv will confirm your subscription, and start to send you discussion items from the mailing list in question. Very important: Never send the subscribe commands to the mailing lists themselves, as in [email protected]. Only the Listserv itself can take care of subscriptions and signoffs. Therefore, always send such administrative commands to the Listserv's email address (). Joining the discussion If you want to send a mail to the members of the conference, send it to [email protected] as in [email protected] [email protected] Rules for participation Each conference has a specific purpose. Discussions are expected to be related to this purpose. The purpose is usually outlined in the individual mailing list's welcome mail to new subscribers, and in the mailing list's supporting web page. If such information is missing, please consult the Kidlink overview page. For more about participation rules, please see Kidlink's Policy Statements Such instructions are typical of a well-maintained mail list. For many other mail lists the set of instructions may be less comprehensive than those shown here, but this example illustrates the general flavor of dealing with mail lists. Now follow the full current instructions to add yourself to the Kidlink mail list.