| • Joining The Email List |
| • List Usage Guidelines |
| • Web Interface |
| • Spam Prevention |
| • List Miscellaneous |
| • TCI Email Lists |
| • Join A TCI List |
Think of an email list (technical term: list server) as an automated email message manager that broadcasts a message to a large group of people. What basically makes using an list server different from a person broadcasting a message on their own is that the sender doesn't specify individual message recipients. In fact, the sender doesn't know everyone who receives the message or their associated addresses. What they do know is that they and the other list members (subscribers), have a common interest and they use the list to discuss that interest en masse.
Quite simply, it works like this: someone who wants to send a message to the group, writes their message as a normal email message, but instead of trying to include everyone's name and email address, they specify only the address of the email list in the "To:" field. Messages sent there are not received by a person, but redirected to programming that sends copies of the message to everyone subscribed to the list. People receiving the message see only the sender's name and address. They don't see the names and addresses of everyone else who also received the message. The list's membership does not have their addresses broadcast to others they may not know.
What follows are instructions on how to interface with the list and guidelines concerning message content. The guidelines are not meant to hinder your participation, but to illustrate how you can make a better impression and avoid subtle irritations you may not have considered.
You will also read about other email lists at TCI.
Only current members of TCOC may subscribe to the TCOC email list. List membership is exclusive because the purpose of the list is to serve the club and its membership.
Our list manager is currently hosted by Yahoo! Inc. It is supported by a small commercial tag promoting Yahoo at the bottom of each outgoing message. There is no expense incurred by TCOC or yourself to use the list.
There are two methods that can used to subscribe to the TCOC list, however the second method requires a Yahoo ID.
(Method 1)
To request a subscription to the TCOC list, send an email message to
TCOC_list-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
If you have more than one email account, be sure this message is sent using the
account you want to receive the TCOC list messages.
You should include your name in the text of the message if it doesn't appear along
with your account name in the "From:" field of your message header.
This is because your name has to verified as a current TCOC member in good standing
by the list owner before your subscription is approved.
(Method 2 requires a Yahoo ID) Using your web browser, go to the
TCOC_list front page at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TCOC_list
Look for the "Join This Group!" button.
Select it and follow the on-line directions.
It could take as long as a couple of days before you get a response from either method because the verification part of the process requires the list owner to validate your membership.
It is important to realize to that whatever personal mannerisms you may use when messaging your close friends or the slack you may expect them to allow you, may not be generally acceptable in a public forum. Just like players participating in a game, rules need to be followed to keep things on level ground and prevent injury among particpants. The rules that apply to list messages are guidelines intended to minimize flame wars, prevent frivolous off-topic messages, and promote beneficial communication. They apply not only to TCOC's list, but for any list. By considering the following "netiquette", your messages will be received in a more appreciable context.
The most important guideline concerning message content is one should never include derogatory remarks towards anyone else. While it is alright to disagree with someone else on a certain issue, it should be done without attacking their character.
Because the purpose of the list is to promote TCOC or other tall related matters, message content should pertain to the club or general matters related to issues of being tall. It is not appropriate to send messages about the great movie you just saw, computer virus warnings, urban legends, etc.
If you want, you can sit back and just read incoming messages. However, your participation in the TCOC list is what it is all about. The following are a few things you should consider when sending a message.
When you reply to a list message, the person who sent the original message will appear in the "To:" header field of your reply. This is well and fine as the majority of messages are either announcements needing no reply or asking information of individuals who should direct their reply only to the sender.
On the other hand, if you believe your reply should be read by all of the list's
members, as in the case of continuing a discussion topic, then you should specify
TCOC_list@yahoogroups.com
in place of the original sender's address in your reply.
Before sending any replies, look at the text included from the original message. Is any of the original text superfluous? If so, prune it from your reply. You only need enough of the original text to make it clear as to what you are responding. Original text that does not relate to your reply clutters your message and distracts from the point you are making.
Many people have their email programs set up to automatically include canned text as part of their signature statements, especially if they subscribed to the list using their work email account. It is doubtful that warnings about non-disclosure or privileged communications apply to messages sent to the TCOC list and should not be included. It is understood that certain web-based email sites, like Hotmail and Yahoo, include their own trailer text and there is nothing the sender can do to prevent it.
If you want to post an original message (you are not replying to a previous message) try to make your subject line directly relate to what you are writing about. If you receive your list messages in DIGEST format, copy the subject line from the particular message you are responding to into the message you send back to the list. Subject lines that read "I was wondering..." or "Did you know?" may be good lead-ins for verbal conversations, but they convey nothing about the subject of your message. Putting key words from your topic in the subject, not only give your readers a good lead into your message, but also make it easier to find later, both on our own computers and in the list's message archive.
If you are replying to the list, avoid making grammatical corrections to the text replicated in your subject line. Changing just one character in the subject line, breaks the reference thread created by the list server. Some people who sort their incoming messages by subject, may not see your message when they see the others and people reading messages via the list archive's reference thread will not see your message at all.
On the other hand, if the gist of your reply will redirect the primary subject
down a new path, then by all means, put a new subject line on your message.
Some people append the old subject text in brackets behind the new subject, e.g.:
Subject: Help Sharing Expenses
[was: Convention speakers]
No matter which way you alter the subject line, it will become a new anchor
point for the list server's thread trace function.
Read return receipts may be appropriate when sending urgent messages to specific individuals, but they should never be attached to any messages sent to a list. Messages sent to a list are broadcast to a group with a common interest and not to individuals, all of whom you would know. If you believe you need to know when certain individuals have read your message, send them a separate message directly (do not include the list's address) with your read return receipt request.
High priority message tags imply urgency! They will not get a message dispatched any faster. Because something may have a high priority to you, that doesn't mean it will be considered urgent by everyone on the list. They only have a practical use between individuals who know each other and don't make sense on a list.
Subscribing via the on-line method mentioned above allows access to the on-line features of this list. While most of these features are secondary to the purpose of the list, you may value the message archive feature because it gives you the ability to go back and check previous messages for their exact text.
The
TCOC Email list web interface is at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TCOC_list
Internet spam, unlike the canned variety, comes in different flavors, some more offensive than others. One thing all spam has in common, it is email the receiver never wanted. If you have previously been spared being inundated by spam, count yourself lucky. It can be a source a major irritation. One thing is for sure, nobody wants to increase the amount of spam they already get.
Those who have been active in email forums for any length of time know that having an address appear in a posted message is one of the leading reasons why people start receiving spam, but don't fear. Our list is managed in a way that goes to great length to prevent email addresses from being seen by the processes spammers use to collect them. Previous messages archived at Yahoo have the sender's address obscured. The only time your email address is fully revealed is when you send a message to the list and even then, it will only been seen by other TCOC members. More on Yahoo's methods to prevent spammers from harvesting your email address can be found here.
By the way, sending off-topic email via a list server is considered spam.
The special TCOC email addresses used for subscribing, unsubscribing, and posting messages all key on your email account name, not your given name. If you have more than one email account, be sure to send your messages to these addresses using the email account by which the list knows you.
Leaving the list is as simple as sending a message addressed to
This message must be sent using the email address the list server
used to send messages to you.
You do not have to include message text in the email.
There is no singular list function that will change the address used by the list to send your messages. But it can be done by a simple two step process. First, subscribe again to the list, this time using your new email address. Then after you your new address completes the subscription process, using your old email address, send a message to the unsubscribe address listed above.
If you know you won't have your old address available much longer, send the unsubscribe message before you leave the old account.
Those who have a Yahoo ID can change the way they receive their messages. (The list owner says he can make the same changes for those who cannot change their own options if they send their request to the .
The default options for a new list subscriber are unformatted non-HTML individual messages.
The list functions pretty much automatically which is very nice for those of us who use it. But from time to time, certain administration work needs to be done and that falls to the list moderators. Besides verifying new list subscribers and monitoring list traffic, they can also help answer your questions.
Before you ask them for help, please try to find your own solution by looking through the list's Help pages. You just might get an immediate answer to your question. You should find a Help link at the top of any Yahoo Groups web page, including the list's front page. If you don't find an immediate answer, you can also pose your question to Yahoo Groups via their Help web pages.
Of course, if you believe your question is TCOC oriented, then you should ask the list administrators straight away.
TCI has a number of lists serving all affiliated tall club members. As a TCOC member, you are also a member of TCI and encouraged to join the TCI-Talk list. As you may have easily guessed, TCI list correspondence deals with issues that are related to members of all clubs.
While multiple lists at TCI are available to the general TCI membership, some only allow inclusion to those holding a special position within a local club or at the TCI level. Some TCI lists only send announcements from key TCI positions, i.e., a list member cannot post a message to that particular list.
There are many lists at TCI and you are encouraged to see if any of them may benefit you. Joining a TCI list requires a prospective subscriber to first have access to the TCI Member Services site.
After obtaining a log in user ID, you are automatically subscribed to the TCI-Members list. TCI-Members is a low traffic list only used to make important announcements by TCI administrators.
Other TCI email lists can be found and subscribed to after completing log in by following the "Mailing Lists" link, and then the "My Subscriptions" link.
last content change: 08/10/2005
|
Please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions. © Tall Club of Orange County |