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List:       list-managers
Subject:    Re: Questions about mail
From:       dbsmith () atbbs ! com (David B !  Smith)
Date:       1997-07-19 8:12:18
Message-ID: a47_9707211332 () atbbs ! com
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FHO> The single thing that would make the operation of mailing lists
FHO> run more smoothly is if new subscribers would READ the welcome message
FHO> which is sent to them when they subscribe.  AND save it in their
FHO> mailing list welcome message folder (which they should have) so they
FHO> can re-read it, particularly when they want to unsubscribe.

Granted.  Although every time I have had a need for a welcome message,
it had been deleted the most recent time i cleared the "deadwood" from
my HD.  Most of the time I don't need them.  When I do, naturally,
they're gone.

FHO> The main advantage to the mailing list approach to conducting Internet
FHO> discussions is that messages come to the subscriber rather than them
FHO> having to check for new messages on a bbs, newsgroup or whatever. This
FHO> assumes they check their email regularly.  It is particularly true for low
FHO> volume topics or topics that the subscriber has modest interest in (not
FHO> enough to motivate them to check a bbs (or similar) regularly. 

OTOH, as a Sysop, I receive all my maillists through my BBS.  (Of
course, if I don't check my own BBS regularly, I'm a perfect idiot. <g>)
The primary advantage of a BBS access to maillists is the utter lack of
a need for unsubscribing when you lose interest and resubscribing when
you gain more interest and/or more time.

Granted, its a pain to run an entire BBS for the purpose of following a
handful of maillists.  If I were not already following a BBS Network
that connects me to a bunch of longtime friends who I met through that
same network, I might not bother.  Combining that BBS Network, receiving
the dozen lists I follow, and handling all my personal Internet email, I
find it worthwhile.  And, of course, I am also able to host a half-dozen
or so maillists I think oughta be out there somewhere.

The main advantage to the mailing list approach to conducting Internet
discussions is that it makes the simplest and least-bandwidth use of the
cheapest broadcast mechanism available.

The worst feature of that approach is that it comes direct to the
subscriber.  The subscriber is then (1) constrained in the volume of
traffic by the available mailbox space, and (2) required by the
structure of the system to deal with _all_ maillists in the limited
confines of one personal mailbox, whether or not such mail is to them
alone.  And such mail usually isn't.

When the dozen or so lists to which I subscribe come into my BBS, they
are separated into separate conferences, which I can handle online.  If
I wish to recommend such discussions to my friends, they don't have to
deal with them along with whatever mail they receive that might be vital
to their jobs.  They can easily recieve those messages in an entirely
separate conference, read them and reply offline, and upload those
replies -- all without dealing with reply addresses -- through my BBS
and my domain.

Conversely, if I recieve a series of messages that are off-topic on a
list to which I subscribe, I can fairly simply create a specialized list
on that topic.  And I am open to requests for such lists from my BBS
users.  Or I may decide to create such a list on my own hook.  With the
BBS and my own domain, I can do that.  And my users can all recieve that
list through a conference on my BBS, to the extent I deem it
appropriate.


___
 X SPEED 1.20 [NR] X Warm smell of colitis, rising up through the air...
--
>> David B. Smith            | Email sysop@atbbs.com, dbsmith@izzy.net
>> Sysop, American Tune BBS  | DISCLAIMER:  Hey, I -own- the place!
>> Anyway, my views are sometimes not even my own, much less anyone else's.



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