Tom
Guidelines for Participating in an Email List
Summary
This document provides tips for participating effectively on email lists.
To receive a copy of this document by email, send a blank email message to
list-tips@onenw.org.
As more and more people use the Internet in their activism, the importance
of being an effective online communicator increases dramatically. One of
the best tools available to us are "email lists," sometimes known as
"listservs."
However, our use of these lists comes with some responsibilities, perhaps
most importantly to not overload our fellow activists with unnecessary or
redundant emails. Following, you will find a list of things you should
consider before posting or responding to a list. For email, quality is
definitely of greater value than quantity. Before you post to an email
list, ask yourself:
1) Is this message *really* necessary?
Only respond to a previous post if you have something of substance to say,
e.g., don't respond to a list to say only, "I agree" or "Thanks."
2) Does your message mesh with the list's purpose?
It is important to stay on topic on discussion lists. Many times, people
become frustrated when others make posts that are irrelevant. Maintain the
quality of the online discussion by staying focused on the subject.
3) Does the subject line adequately describe your message's content?
By including a descriptive subject line, recipients can easily tell if your
email is of interest to them or is of an urgent nature, and allows folks to
prioritize and organization their emails more easily.
4) If quoting portions of a previous email, have you included only the
relevant portions in your response?
It's important to "pare down" quoted material, so that emails don't grow
massive, and so that recipients know exactly to what you're referring in
your response.
5) If you're forwarding a message to a list, have you asked the original
sender for their permission?
Conversely, if you want to forward a message from a list, have you asked
*that* sender's permission?
6) If you're attaching a file to your email, have you made sure you've
saved the file as a "text file" so that people with different computers and
software can all read it?
Sending attachments to lists is difficult, and we generally advise against
it, unless you know everyone on the list can read it. If at all possible,
rather than attaching a document, include it as text in your email message
(using "cut and paste" from your word processing program, if necessary).
7) Have you proof-read and/or spell-checked your message?
8) Have you included your contact information (other than your email
address)
in a signature file?
It's helpful to give folks other ways of contacting you in your email, e.g.
phone, fax, website, postal address.
9) Last, but perhaps most importantly, have you made certain that you are
sending your email to the address you really *mean* to? Some people have
experienced very embarrassing moments when responding quickly to an email
list post, meaning for their response to go to only one person, but it was
inadvertently sent to the entire list. Check and make sure the right email
address is in the "to" box!!
Help prevent "information overload!" Be a good Internet Citizen.
For more information, see our related documents:
Sending Effective Email: http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/email.html
Using Email Attachments: http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/attach.html
Sending Effective Action Alerts: http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/actalert.html
Establishing an Email list with ONE/Northwest:
http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/maillist.html
Sending and Receiving Email Attachments:
http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/attach.html
Thomas C. Lamar, Executive Director
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Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute
P O Box 8596; 112 West 4th St; Suite #1
Moscow ID 83843-1096
Phone (208)882-1444; Fax (208)882-8029
url: http://www.moscow.com/pcei
Please Note our individual staff email addresses below:
Thomas C. Lamar, Executive Director: lamar@pcei.org
Kathleen Lester, Office Manager: lester@pcei.org
Laurie Gardes, Financial Manager: gardes@turbonet.com
Adam R. Thornbrough, Watersheds: thornbrough@pcei.org
Colette DePhelps, Community Food Systems: dephelps@pcei.org
Jon Barrett, Idaho Smart Growth: smartgro@micron.net
Jennifer Bell, Environmental Education: bell1719@uidaho.edu
Celebrating twelve years of connecting people, place and community.
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