The Basics of Discussion Group Participation
Among the many glitzy Internet capabilities, the favorite and most often used is good ol' e-mail. And soon after coming online and enjoying personal e-mail, many discover the power and community of discussion groups.
Discussion groups or lists are forums within which subscribers collect at the virtual water cooler to discuss and share information about the discussion list topic. Moderated discussion lists approve all postings prior to their distribution to subscribers, whereas information posted to un-moderated discussion lists is transmitted without review.
LISTSERV® or Majordomo are two of the most frequently-used applications for discussion groups. Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups are just a couple of Web sites that offer lists of discussion groups of widely-varying interests.
Members of discussion groups often feel like they belong to a community, and like any community, each group will have its particular culture and etiquette. However, there are some basic tips for effectively using and participating in discussion groups.
It's a good idea to create and use an alternate e-mail address for receiving discussion group material. This keeps your personal e-mail separate from your discussion group e-mail. Many Internet Service Providers offer the capability of creating additional e-mail addresses associated with your main email account, or you can use one of the many services offering free e-mail accounts. To make sure that your spam filter doesn't trap discussion group e-mail, you may need to add discussion group addresses to your spam filter whitelist.
List management software is flexible and offers options for receiving and viewing e-mail. Explore and customize it to your liking. For example, if you find a particular list to be very prolific, consider having the content combined into a daily digest for easier reading.
Save the information sent to you when you first subscribe to a discussion list. It provides information on how to unsubscribe, post messages, change list settings, and contact the list owners, and whether there are specific procedures to follow to confirm list commands or postings. Be sure to make a record of your discussion list IDs and passwords.
Before posting to a discussion thread, it can be helpful to read through the list's welcome instructions, seek out a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list, and just hang out for a while being a "lurker" to read through the discussion list traffic and get a feel for the list's etiquette. It's also useful to browse through the list archives to research whether questions you may want to ask have already been posted, answered or discussed at length.
And, it can be worthwhile to think about what you plan to say before placing an original post or replying. The Internet has a long memory and what you say in haste or in the heat of the moment may linger, and even be recycled, for quite a while.
When replying to a post, remove unneeded text and include only enough of the material from the e-mail to which you are replying to ensure that your reply makes sense. Consider whether a list's many subscribers want to read what you're about to post and avoid sending "me too" replies that are simply intended to convey agreement.
At the other end of the spectrum, don't reply in anger. Strive to give your fellow subscribers the benefit of the doubt. It's easy to misunderstand the intent of an e-mail message, especially between people who've never met, and can lead to "flaming" or posts that are deliberately hostile and insulting.
Stay within the boundaries of the purpose of the discussion list as well as the topic of any particular discussion thread. If discussions wander from the original subject matter, update the subject line to have it more accurately reflect the current topic being discussed in the thread.
Make sure you know how a particular discussion list directs replies. Some lists send replies to the original poster, others direct them to the entire list. Check the Send To field of your replies to ensure that your replies go where you intend. Once sent, e-mails can not be retrieved.
Don't use auto-reply messages that broadcast to lists. When set incorrectly, these auto-reply messages can create eternal e-mail loops that require the intervention of the list manager to remove the offending e-mail ID from the list.
Finally, depending on the culture, etiquette, and purpose of the discussion list, take time to check spelling and grammar, avoid vulgarity, send plain-text notes rather than HTML, don't forward jokes and hoaxes, and sign your posts using your real name for credibility.
Whether you're looking to share information or your point of view regarding a hobby or a social, political, religious or community-related purpose, there's a discussion group out there that will suit your needs. And, you may also widen your circle of friends and gain a sense of community with your online water cooler buddies.
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Explore AARP's Online Community Message Boards
Additional Resources
Find a discussion group of interest to you from the many listings available from Yahoo! Groups or Google Groups
Information on Wikipedia about Internet Forum (aka discussion groups), LISTSERV®, Majordomo, Lurker, and Flaming
AARP does not recommend or endorse any of these products or web sites. Please be advised that there are other similar products and web sites available which were not reviewed and are not listed here.
About the Author
Gabe Goldberg has developed, worked with, and written about technology for decades.
