The Skinny on eGroups

eMail Discussion Lists (eGroups) allow for easy
and fast exchange of ideas and thoughts and
comments from people with similar interests all
over the world.

There are tens of thousands eGroups out there,
covering virtually every subject, topic, hobby and
interest imaginable. Most are offered free and are
automated with mailing list management software.
You may have heard of Listserv, Majordomo,
Listprocessor, Mailbase and others. Some eGroups
are limited to a specific group, club or
association, others are open to everyone. Some
have private, unlisted addresses, others are
published for all to see. Some have thousands of
subscribers, some have less than ten.

Unlike the dreaded chat rooms, eMail Discussion
Lists (eGroups) are not live, but offer a central
eMail address to use for broadcasting messages to
the entire list. With an eGroup you communicate
with everyone else in the group by sending one
eMail message to the central address

As a subscriber to an eGroup, you should expect to
start receiving eMail shortly after you sign up -
unless it is a dormant list. Hang back a while and
read the posts before joining in to get a feel for
the personalities and the scope of discussions.
Reading and not posting is often called lurking,
not a bad term in this context. All eGroups have
lurkers. If everyone on the list was active with
posts and replies, your eMail InBox would choke,
gag and gasp.

When you do "post" a message to the central
address, the eGroup software will route it to all
the subscribers of the list - often 100s or 1000s
of people from all over the world. eGroup
messages will come to your mailbox in
chronological order and intermixed with other
eMail. If your eMail program is set to use filters
and folders, you may choose to have all messages
of your eGroup filtered to a specific folder for
ease in reading and replying.

When your message is posted to the eGroup, those
who read it and wish to respond must choose to
reply either publicly through the eGroup, or
privately, one on one, back to you. Set your own
criteria for deciding if a reply should go to all
or one. Be sure your eMail address is on the
BOTTOM of your messages. Picking it out of the
TCP/IP Header on every message is often a job for
Colombo. Check into creating an automatic
"signature" file to put your information at the
bottom of every message.

Some eGroups have a frequently asked question
(FAQ) file. It may be available when you first
subscribe, or offered on a website of one of the
moderators.

The FAQ often outlines the rules of the list,
defining what is acceptable and unacceptable for
posting to the group. Although it sounds strict,
most lists are quite informal and operate with a
conversational tone.

Some eGroups have limits on the topics discussed.
Some have moderators to keep all messages
relevant, others are loose and free. All, however,
have one caveat, no personal attacks. It is bad
enough for someone to make a personal attack or
complain about another by eMail, but to post on an
eGroup is a sort cut to trouble.

All eGroups have easy subscribe and un-subscribe
instructions. Most have un-subscribe instructions
on every message. Join as many as you want because
you can quit at any time.

eGroups are a great way to meet other people with
similar interests and to get advice and ideas from
peers in your business or profession. eGroups are
another useful benefit of having and using eMail.

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©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved
Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com
BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small
Business Consultant with over 30 years experience,
http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

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