
Riding the Internet    \|/    by Lauren Willoughby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~           All-Purpose Editor

"If you have an Internet mailbox, the world will come to you"

                          IT'S IN THE E-MAIL


   The scene: a city park at night, next to a fountain. It's raining.
   The characters: Clark Kent and Lois Lane.
   The action: Clark, hesitating endearingly, prepares to tell Lois 
          something very important.
   The fans: On the edges of their sofas, clutching throw pillows in 
          anticipation of The Revelation.
   Clark: Opens his mouth and, instead of saying, "I'm Superman," says 
          "Lois, will you marry me?"
   The fans: Thousands of pillows hit the TV screen in unison.

   Clark's proposal came way out of left field. It was just a gimmick 
thrown into the season finale of the Lois & Clark TV show by the 
producers. And we, the fans, do NOT like to be jerked around, and we're 
NOT taking this lying down.

   That's the gist of conversation over the last couple of months on the 
Lois & Clark mailing list.

   Isn't it neat that people are able to use computers to gather around 
topics dear to their hearts? There are newsgroups on topics ranging from 
SysOp-ing to Star Trek. And for the true believers, there are mailing 
lists! I'll give the addresses for some interesting mailing lists 
(including the Lois & Clark list) at the end of this article, but first 
let's talk more about the characteristics of mailing lists.


>>[ Newsgroups vs. Mailing Lists ]<<

   A newsgroup is something that lets people of similar interests post 
messages to each other in a central location. Ask a question and it will 
be answered, usually by several people, within hours (if it's a really 
active newsgroup, within a couple of minutes). A mailing list is almost 
the same thing. The difference between a newsgroup and a mailing list is 
that the newsgroup is available on the Internet for anyone to find and 
read anonymously. You have to *go looking* for it. With a mailing list, 
messages *come to you* in the form of e-mail.

   By subscribing to a mailing list, you're guaranteed not to miss 
messages -- which can happen on a newsgroup if you don't keep up. Old 
newsgroup messages are deleted regularly to make room for new ones. 
Often mailing lists bud off from newsgroups. Both contain information of 
vital interest, but the newsgroup is a more public forum, while the 
mailing list is a more private way for the really motivated 
correspondents to stay in touch. It also empowers people who have the 
most basic of Internet capability -- a mailbox and nothing else.


>>[ Types of Mailing Lists ]<<

   Mailing lists can be moderated, in which the list maintainer 
*moderates* -- serves as a gatekeeper -- allowing only messages he or 
she deems worthy to pass through to the members of the list. More 
focused, *official* mailing lists, such as company bulletins or Internet 
'zines, are moderated. OR, mailing lists can be unmoderated free-for-
alls, in which every message submitted is in turn sent to everyone on 
the list. Fan clubs and user's groups, where free conversation reigns, 
are usually unmoderated. The unmoderated lists are often chaotic, with a 
fair amount of off-topic posts, but they're more spontaneous and fun! 
(I'm on several industry news lists, but Lois & Clark remains my 
favorite. I'm usually content to just lurk.)

   Mailing lists by default send messages to your mailbox at all hours 
of the day. When I first joined the Lois & Clark list (an unmoderated 
list), I was dismayed to find as many as 75 messages a day popping up in 
my mailbox. I liked reading the messages, but there were so many! 
Fortunately, when I read the FAQ file in more depth, I discovered the 
*digest* option: which collects messages until it has a bunch of them -- 
then sends out one *big* message. The digest contains a table of 
contents at the top (the subject line of each message is given its own 
numbered line). The only disadvantage with digests is that the messages 
may be a little dated when you receive them -- but by no more than a day 
(or only a few hours).

   You have to ask to join a mailing list, though the "answering" and 
distribution is often automatic. Sometimes there's a human who'll pick 
up your request to join the list, but most likely it will be a program 
-- an automated list server. If the address to subscribe begins with 
"LISTSERV" or "Majordomo," then it's an automated list. You're directed 
to type specific text in the body of your request message, and the list 
server will process it.

   Mailing lists usually have two addresses: a "list server" for 
administration (for subscribing, unsubscribing, setting options, and 
asking for digest mode) and the list address for posting messages. To 
subscribe to a list, you're usually asked to send a message to the 
administrative address with the words

          SUB ListName YourFirstName YourLastName

as the body of the text. For example, to subscribe to the Lois & Clark 
list, you send mail to LISTSERV@VM.EGE.EDU.TR with 

          SUB LOISCLA YourFirstName YourLastName

as the body of your message. Once you have subscribed, you can post to 
the list by sending e-mail to LOISCLA@VM.EGE.EDU.TR.

   When you subscribe to a list, you usually receive a message giving 
you instructions on how to set options and unsubscribe (save this 
message!). If you try to subscribe to a list and fail, you'll often get 
a message giving you the exact steps for subscribing.


>>[ How They Work ]<<

   Mailing lists work like fax broadcast programs, except you're dealing 
with e-mail instead of faxes.

   Here's how it goes with a fax modem. You write a document. You have a 
list of names of people you'd like to receive your document, along with 
their fax numbers. You tell the software to send your document to 
everyone on the list, and off you go for a brewski. Unmoderated mailing 
lists work the same way, sort of. The list of names is maintained 
elsewhere, behind an Internet address. You send your message to that 
address, and it explodes out to the Internet addresses of everyone on 
that list. The list could go out to 50 people or 5000!


>>[ Starting Your Own Mailing List ]<<

   If your needs are not being met by the thousands of mailing lists in 
existence, consider starting your own, if you can afford to invest a lot 
of time to the project. The LISTSERV software, written by Eric Thomas, 
is free. It might be a good idea to subscribe to a mailing list of list 
owners so you can appeal for technical help: consider subscribing to the 
list LSTOWN-L@INDYCMS.


>>[ The Big Finish ]<<

   While the World Wide Web gets the most attention lately in Internet 
coverage -- yeah, it took me months of gorging on the Web before it 
finally dropped into perspective -- mailing lists are vital, funky, 
exciting, topical and current. You never know who you'll meet and what 
you'll find out. For instance, I've found that I'm but one of hundreds 
(thousands? millions?) of SWOCKs: Shallow Women Ogling Clark Kent.

   It's a little boggling to learn that grown people send mail to each 
other arguing passionately over episodes of Lois & Clark, Star Trek and 
Babylon 5. But, hey, everyone needs a hobby, and mailing lists have a 
way of sucking you in. (Besides, we deep thinkers need to exercise our 
literary criticism skills on something, and Shakespeare's been done to 
death. <G>) For every interest, there's probably at least one mailing 
list.

                                 -=*=-

                                SOURCES

Internet Mailing Lists Navigator for Windows Users, by Vivian Neou. 
Published in 1995 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. $39.95. For more information, 
call (800) 382-3419, or check out the Web site: http://www.prenhall.com
The book offers descriptions on 1400+ mailing lists and how to join 
them! It also includes a mailing list database on CD-ROM, so you can 
search for lists by keyword.

Delphi Internet FAQ files

                                 -=*=-

                         MAILING LISTS TO TRY

Courtesy of the book Mailing Lists Navigator for Windows Users:


              List Name: MODEMS-L@VM.ITS.RPI.EDU
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@VM.ITS.RPI.EDU
                              A discussion group for modem users, 
                              gatewayed to and from the Usenet newsgroup 
                              comp.dcom.modems.

              List Name: BBS-L
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@SAUPM00.BITNET
                              Discussions on how to start and maintain a 
                              BBS.

              List Name: PCBUILD@TSCVM.TRENTON.EDU
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@TSCVM.TRENTON.EDU
                              A place where people can ask questions and
                              share experiences about building their own 
                              PC clone systems.

              List Name: ROADMAP
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU
                              Free online Internet classes open to 
                              anyone. Covers every facet of the Net, 
                              plus shows people who have only e-mail 
                              access how to use e-mail to access tools 
                              like Archie and FTP.

              List Name: TV2NITE-L
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@NETCOM.COM
                              Complete daily programming guides for all 
                              major broadcast and cable TV networks -- 
                              everything from obscure cable channels to 
                              who's on Dave tonight.

Other mailing lists picked up here and there:


              List Name: LOISCLA@VM.EGE.EDU.TR
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@VM.EGE.EDU.TR
                              For fans of the Lois & Clark TV show. 
                              Throw in your 2 cents on these issues: 
                              Should Clark tell Lois he's Superman? 
                              Should Lois figure it out for herself? 
                              Should they get married? 

              List Name: STHL-L
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@HEARN.NIC.SURFNET.NL
                              The Star Trek Humor League

              List Name: IPHONE
   Subscription Address: MAJORDOMO@PULVER.COM
                              To discuss the Internet Phone and related
                              technologies. To subscribe, type 
                                        subscribe iphone
                                              or
                                        subscribe iphone-digest
                              in the body of the message

              List Name: EXOTIC-CARS
   Subscription Address: EXOTIC-CARS-REQUEST@SOL.ASL.HITACHI.COM
                              For owners and admirers of exotic cars.
                              To subscribe, send a human-friendly
                              request message to the above address.

              List Name: SF-LOVERS
   Subscription Address: SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU
                              A wide range of topics on science-fiction
                              and fantasy novels. To subscribe, send a
                              human-friendly request message to the 
                              above address.

              List Name: ZEPPELIN-L
   Subscription Address: LISTSERV@CORNELL.EDU
                              For fans of the rock group Led Zeppelin.

              List Name: GHOST-STORIES
   Subscription Address: GHOST-STORIES-REQUEST@NETCOM.COM
                              Each day, one story from the 
                              alt.folklore.ghost-stories newsgroup is 
                              sent to this list.

              List Name: RAIDERS
   Subscription Address: RAIDERS-REQUEST@SUPER.ORG
                              An unmoderated list open to all Raiders 
                              fans.

              List Name: SPACE-1999
   Subscription Address: SPACE-1999-REQUEST@QUACK.KFU.COM
                              For fans of the old SF TV show. (I'm 
                              posting this for an odd friend of mine who 
                              collects laserdisc versions of the 
                              episodes.)

              List Name: X-FILES
   Subscription Address: LISTPROC@CHAOS.TAYLORED.COM
                              For fans of the popular FOX TV show.

                                 -=*=-

                           OTHER RESOURCES

          Web Site -- Search list of discussion groups. More than
          5900 entries, updated weekly:
             http://www.nova.edu/Inter-Links/cgi-bin/lists

          Web Site -- Indiana University searchable database of 12,850 
          mailing lists:
             http://www.ucssc.indiana.edu/mlarchive

          Web Site -- Publicly accessible Web sites:
             http://www.neosoft.com:80/internet/paml/byname.html
                (alphabetical by name)
             http://www.neosoft.com:80/internet/paml/bysubj.html
                (alphabetical by subject)

                                 -=*=-

              Lauren Willoughby, a self-proclaimed computer
           nerd, lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and admits to
           these weaknesses: science-fiction novels (Heinlein,
           Brin, Bujold, Sterling, Varley), pizza (anything but
           anchovies) and tennis. She can be reached on the 
           Internet at laurenw@delphi.com or pcm@shivasys.com.

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