INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Internet mailing lists: a primer

The widespread availability of new electronic sources of information has exponentially increased the amount of information available to the surgeon in recent years. These new sources of information come in various forms, each of which have their own rules and regulations. This article focuses on Internet mailing lists. The practicalities of mailing lists are discussed, with guidelines to help users find lists of interest, join and contribute to, and use this medium effectively while minimising the time spent on it. Pointers to starting one’s own list are provided for the motivated reader.

Keywords: mailing list, information technology (IT), Internet, email

J.R.Coll.Surg.Edinb., 45, April 2000, 122-6 

INTRODUCTION

Electronic mail (email) is a key aspect of communications on the Internet. Just as email makes it easy to communicate with friends and colleagues, it also makes it easy to communicate with large groups of people who are interested in a subject, allowing contacts with individuals without prior knowledge of their email addresses. This is possible through Internet mailing lists, also called discussion groups.

Internet mailing lists consist of groups of individuals who share a common interest. Every member of a list can send a message to the central computer (termed server). A software package running on the server then copies the message to the email address of every member of that group. Subscriptions to discussion lists are generally free. Mailing lists provide a flexible medium for health professionals to discuss matters of mutual interest. The subjects discussed can be wide-ranging and varied. For example, discussions on the OPHTHAL list (http://www.ophthal.org/ also available by email), a list which discusses all aspects of ophthalmology, has encompassed topics such as tonopens, interesting cases, pre-operative disinfecting regimens and year 2000 compatibility problems with visual field analysis equipment. Each mail message is copied to over 1 100 subscribers from 64 countries on this list. Thus there is usually some response to each posting.¹

In addition to mailing lists, one can join Internet-based discussions by subscribing to newsgroups, termed USENET (USEr NETwork). In contrast to mailing lists, where individual email is the medium of exchange of information, in the newsgroups, the server hosts messages. The reader has to log in to the server to be able to read and respond to messages.

This is achieved by using a software package called a newsreader. Newsgroups use special message editors with similar features to electronic mail. Usenet was started in 1979 at Duke University as a means of exchanging information amongst computers using the UNIX operating system. The development in 1986 of NNTP (network news transfer protocol), enabled the integration of USENET into the Internet.² There are about 30 000 newsgroups (listed on Liszt -http://www.liszt.com) currently, organised in a hierarchy of categories.³ Subscription to a particular newsgroup depends on both the particular choice and the preference of the Internet service provider (ISP) being used, as not all newsgroups are available through every ISP. For the professional, newsgroups can be a goldmine of information. Both mailing lists and newsgroups often contain more up to date information than journals and bulletins. A note of caution is required, however, as newsgroups and unmoderated mailing lists are without any defined editorial control, being self-regulating and self maintained. However, lists dealing with professional subjects tend to have good quality information.⁴ Moderated mailing lists may be a more reliable source of information, especially if the user is interested in established practice patterns rather than ‘cutting edge’ and often controversial information.

This article outlines the practicalities of mailing lists that should help the reader to use this medium effectively. For the motivated, pointers are provided to help start one’s own mailing list.

IDENTIFYING LISTS OF INTEREST

Mailing lists are of two types. ‘Open’ lists allow access to everyone, while subscriptions to ‘restricted’ or ‘closed’ lists are only available to certain categories of people. Thus, while anyone can join the list Orthopod⁴, the list Surginet allows access only to those who can demonstrate their ‘medical credentials’.⁵ However, even the ‘open’ lists often define their target audience, and it is common practice for lists aimed at medical professionals (including Orthopod) to state that they are not meant to be a forum for patients to seek advice. The list administrator usually reserves the right to remove subscribers, and may use this to remove subscribers who are not obviously in the target audience of the group. Thus, even the ‘open’ group Orthopod is voluntarily restricted to health and allied professionals and the list administrator may remove people not obviously in these categories. Lists are like clubs for people sharing a common interest and one is well advised to respect the spirit of the group. Table 1 provides a selection of mailing lists catering to various surgical disciplines. Lists are also broadly divisible into moderated and unmoderated. In the moderated lists, the list moderator approves each posting before it is sent out to the members. This should lead to a higher level of discussion than that on unmoderated lists, where all postings are automatically sent out to subscribers without any form of vetting.

Table 1: Selected mailing lists for surgery and sub-specialties (correct as of February 2000)

The burgeoning number of lists, presently estimated to be over 90 0006, makes it difficult for the prospective subscriber to find lists that are of interest to him or her. Help is available at various Websites which act as directories. The Directory of Mailing Lists database at http://www.liszt.com is the most comprehensive (Figure 1). 

Figure 1: Liszt is one of the leading directory of mailing lists and newsgroups, listing over 90 000 mailing lists and 30 000 newsgroups

However this does not include all of the 2,589 lists that are hosted by Mailbase (http://www.mailbase.ac.uk). These lists originate in the UK and are established only if they are of benefit to the higher education and research communities and, as such, provide a germane resource for the health professional. Table 2 provides a list of sources where it is possible to search for discussion groups of particular interest. These directories usually also provide a description of the list and instructions on how to subscribe. While the Internet by its very nature is international, there are mailing lists that focus on local affairs. For example, the Indian Ophthalmology Online mailing list (http://www.indmedica.com/ophthal) and the IndiaOrth mailing list (http://www.indiaorth.org). As their names suggest, these lists concentrate on matters relating to their specialty in India.

Table 2: Internet addresses of some sources which list discussion groups

JOINING AND CONTRIBUTING TO A MAILING LIST

It is necessary to have an email account to join a discussion list. All discussions are handled through email. The interested party sends specific commands to each discussion group that he/she wishes to join. These commands are usually available at the homepage of the email discussion group. All the essential information about what commands to key when sending messages to the computer programme that maintains that list will be provided on the Web page. Remember that, in general, commands are being sent to a computer, not to a human being. It is advisable, therefore, to remove any extraneous material, such as signature lines from the message when sending commands. Also, the computer does not appreciate politeness. Ending a message with terms such as thank you and regards only lead to confusion.

It is essential to understand the difference between the address of the mailing list and the address of the list owner. Messages that relate to the administration of the list (joining, leaving and so on) must be sent to the list-owner, whilst contributions to the discussion should be sent directly to the list. Failure to comply with this protocol results in commands like ‘unsubscribe’ postings being distributed to every subscriber.

If one wants to join the discussion list “example”, the message to the list-owner should be as follows:

To: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk 
Subject: leave blank 
Message: subscribe example first-name surname

To contribute to the discussion list “example”, the message might be:

To: example@mailbase.ac.uk
Subject: Next meeting of the X society 
Message: The next meeting of our society will be at ....

Note that the two recipient addresses are different.

USING MAILING LISTS EFFECTIVELY

The abundance of lists available and the volume of discussion present a problem to the busy clinician, who may not have the time to keep track of an over-full mailbox. With the availability of software that makes management of small mailing lists easier, more and more people are setting their own small discussion groups, increasing the overall number of mailing lists. Before deciding on the mailing lists to join, therefore, it is important to identify the specific groups that are of interest. The volume of messages on some lists can be large; the 84 messages posted to the list acad-ae-med (a list for trainees in accident and emergency medicine) in an average month may be manageable⁷; the 871 messages posted to GP-UK may be more problematic.⁸ One can use various methods to use the time spent on mailing lists effectively.

First, subscribe to the digest mode of the mailing list. Most mailing lists offer different options once one decides to sub-scribe. The user can opt to receive all messages from members throughout the day, as individual emails. These can be regularly checked, thereby keeping track of all the discussions over the course of the day. Generally, the digest format is more useful. This format contains all the messages sent to the mailing list over a period of days to weeks (sometimes fortnights) depending on the volume of discussion. The digest will come as one large email message. If the user is interested but can only devote limited time to the discussions, the digest mode is the best option to use.

Another option is not to subscribe to the list at all, or to sub-scribe without opting to receive emails; a no-mail option is available on some lists allowing one to do this. One can post and read the messages by visiting the Website of the mailing list. This is, of course, possible only if the list maintains a Web archive of all postings. These sites not only allow users to read all messages sent to this list, at a time and frequency suitable to them, but also provides users with the opportunity to search the postings by keyword. Web archives also enable users to assess the relevance of a list before committing themselves to a subscription. An ‘info’ file is also usually available. This is helpful when determining the usefulness of a list, especially for lists that do not maintain a web archive.

Thirdly, most (not all) newsgroups are archived in the home-page of www.dejanews.com. At the Dejanews Web page, it is possible to search all messages posted in all indexed newsgroups from 1994 up to the present date. In addition, readers can also post messages, and use a different username. If one prefers to read the newsgroups at the homepage of the Dejanews and post messages from there, it may save both time and space on one’s hard drive. However, given the traffic at the Internet, and the connection, these pages may take time to load. Also, most of the messages arrive in Dejanews a few days later than they would arrive at the subscribed newsgroup server.

The first time individuals subscribe to a mailing list, most list-owners will send them a welcome message. This welcome message will contain essential information about entering the discussion group, sending messages to the discussion group, and leaving the discussion group. This message will also provide interested parties with detailed instructions on the commands they should type to receive their discussions in a digest mode. It is advisable to save these ‘welcome messages’ for future reference. Then, if necessary, they can be rapidly accessed for information about leaving a discussion group temporarily or using some other features.

THE ISSUE OF ANONYMITY

Sometimes, individuals may want to remain anonymous while sending contributions to a discussion group. This is essential if they want to respond to a sensitive discussion and do not want their name to be revealed. There is no clearly defined policy on anonymity in Internet mailing lists.⁹ If the list is unmoderated, the sender can safely remain anonymous. In a moderated group, it is the Internet etiquette of the particular group (the term is “netiquette”) that matters. The best route is to send a message to the moderator of the newsgroup inquiring if it is possible to remain anonymous. In this way, no one will be able to identify the email address, as it will not show up in the mail being sent.

There are several ways to remain anonymous while sending electronic mail. A popular approach is to use a fictitious name. Another way is to use alternative email addresses. Before you use an alternative email address for a particular discussion group, it is necessary to have subscribed to the discussion group using the alternative username and email address. It is possible to obtain an alternative email address from several World Wide Web based sources. Table 3 provides a partial list of popular World Wide Web based electronic mail providers, most of which are free services. It has also become the norm for commercial Internet service providers to allow subscribers to use more than one address. Alternatively, re-mailers can be used to remain anonymous while sending email. A re-mailer program will send a message to the desired discussion list but, in the process, it will strip off the email address from the header section of the email. Table 4 provides a selected list of Websites that offer re-mailer programmes and anonymous email services.

Table 3: List of web based email providers

Table 4: Software programmes and Websites that offer to “anonymise” your email address

HOW TO CREATE A MAILING LIST

A regular contributor to discussion groups other people have created may wish to establish his or her own mailing list. To create a mailing list, special software is required. Table 5 lays out selected sources of software for setting up a mailing list for a topic, free of charge in some cases. These sites also provide guidance in setting up your own list. The software may have limitations on the number of topics and the number of people who can be on the list at any one time. Usually, these limitations are well within the range of posts generated in scholarly discussions. The creator will also need to decide if he or she wants a moderated or open discussion list. Moderated discussions are likely to generate less trivial posts, but may also be less active. It is advisable to create a simple Web page with a form requesting visitors to join the list. The software manages the rest of the process of distributing mails and handling other commands.

Table 5: Companies providing software or hosting facilities for mailing lists

MAILING LIST ETIQUETTE AND CONVENTIONS

Since emails form the basis of the mailing lists, the etiquette is similar to any email usage. A couple of additional points are worth mentioning. Firstly, discussions often tend to veer into personal issues and trivia. Although this is less likely to happen in moderated lists, it behoves all members to refrain from bringing up personal comments in a group. Secondly, messages related to issues such as joining and leaving circulating in the message area of the discussion groups are a nuisance to other subscribers. Members need to be careful about the email address to which they send commands and messages.

CONCLUSION

Email mailing lists provide a venue for the free exchange of ideas, methods and attitudes that is different to the way medical information is disseminated by published literature. They serve as an important new modality for continuing education.¹⁰ This article does not describe or discuss newsgroups; however, they operate along the same principles. In the coming years, Internet mailing lists and discussion groups will be an increasingly important source of dissemination of information.

Module 3, General principles Audit, statistics and computing

REFERENCES

1. OPHTHAL http://www.ophthal.org
2. Moraes M. Usenet Software: History and Sources. http://www.netannounce.org/news.announce.newusers/archive/usenet/software/part1
3. Liszt’s Usenet Newsgroups Directory. http://www.liszt.com/news/
4. McLauchlan GJ, Cadogan M, Oliver CW. Assessment of an electronic mailing list for orthopaedic and trauma surgery. J R Coll Surg Edinb, 1999; 44: 36-9
5. Kovacs DK and The Directory Team. The Directory of Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences. http://n2h2.com/KOVACS/ 
6. Liszt, the mailing list directory. http://www.liszt.com
7. List information for acad-ae-med http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/cgi-bin/stats?acad-ae-med
8. List information for GP_UK http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/cgi-bin/stats?gp-uk
9. Goldberg I, Wagner D, Brewer E. Privacy-enhancing technologies for the Internet http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~daw/privacy-compcon97-www/privacy-html.html
10. Gilas T, Schein M, Frykberg E. A surgical Internet discussion list (Surginet): a novel venue for international communication among surgeons. Arch Surg 1998; 133: 1126-30 

Copyright date: 6th March 2000

Correspondence: Somdutt Prasad, Clinical Lecturer in Ophthalmology, Floor O, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield S10 2JF Email S.Prasad@Sheffield.ac.uk

©2000 The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, J.R.Coll.Surg.Edinb.,45; 1:122-6