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Mailing List User Guide

The British-Genealogy mailing lists are accessible to anyone without any charge.

Something that you will find very different from all other mailing list systems, is that you have your own list management page, (called a List Manager), so that you can control everything. All the mailing lists to which you subscribe can be managed by your List Manager.

MAILING LISTS


The British-Genealogy mailing lists will not affect your normal email operations. As you become a subscriber to various lists you will begin receiving email traffic through the server. All you need do to participate is read the mail as you normally would and and reply to messages as you normally would.

You are provided with a number of web-based features that will make your participation in lists more valuable, and which will help you get the most out of the system. This is called your List Manager personal settings page.

What is a mailing list?

A mailing list is simply a list of e-mail addresses of people that are interested in the same subject. When a member of the list sends a note to the group's special address, the email is broadcast to all of the members of the list. The main advantage of a mail list over things such as web-based discussion is that as new messages become available they are immediately delivered to the participants' mailboxes.

Your normal email software is capable of putting all messages from each mailing list into its own separate folder, and also to thread them by the subject of the message, so that you can follow discussions in the order in which they were written.

To reply to a mailing list message, you just reply as you would to any other email. Alternatively, you can just start another subject thread yourself, by posting a new email to the list.

Mailing list terms

Some terms that will help you understand how things work:

  • A mailing list is simply a collection of email addresses that will be receiving messages on a particular topic. Every mailing list has a list name and a list address. For example, the mailing list for the group of people with interests in genealogy in the English county of Cornwall will be named ENG-Cornwall, and would have the address ENG-Cornwall@british-genealogy.com
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  • Your Mailing List Manager is on a web page that is accessible only to you (password protected) that will let you manage your own personal preferences. The first time that you subscribe to one of the British-Genealogy mailing lists, you will be sent an email that tells you how to get to your List Manager page. The system will also send you a reminder of this once each month.
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  • The Mailing List Administrator is a real person. He/she is responsible for the smooth running of the mailing list. Each mailing list has its own Mailing List Administrator.
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  • Joining or being added to a mailing list is called subscribing. When you leave a list it is called unsubscribing. You have complete control over these.
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  • Almost all of the British-Genealogy mailing lists are archived. This means that you (and other subscribers only) can go back to look at a web page with all of the old messages that were posted to the mailing list. You can view those old messages sorted by date, by author or threaded by subject.
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  • A message thread is simply a collection of messages, in order, which have the same subject line. It is important therefore to reply to messages on a mailing list to maintain the thread, rather than starting a new message. A new message starts a new thread.
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  • The subject line of a mailing list message is very important. (This is the same thing as the subject line in your own email software). To get attention when making a request in a new message, be sure to make the subject line a meaningful one. Think about it carefully! Bad subject lines are those such as "Family History", (all of the messages are about family history!) or "Help Please". A good subject line would be something like "John ROBINSON in the 1861 census".
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  • There are two alternative modes of receiving list mail.
    1. As separate individual emails, called List Mode, that usually arrive within a minute of them being posted to the list. (Or immediately you connect to the Internet). Your email software can be set up easily to receive them into separate folders for each mailing list. The advantage of list mode is that messages appear threaded by the subject when you do this.
    2. As a digest, where the list manager software stores all of the messages it receives, and then sends them to you bundled together as one email each day. The disadvantage with this method is that it is harder to follow a threaded discussion.

Getting information about each mailing list

All of the active mailing lists are listed on a web page on the British-Genealogy mail manager system, which is known simply by the name "Mailman". If new lists are added, then you will see them there.

Mailman can be found at: http://www.british-genealogy.com/mailman/listinfo

Every mailing list on the server has its own mail list information page. When you go to Mailman you will see a listing of the publicly available mailing lists, together with a short description of each. To access the information page for a particular list (including subscription information and the list archives) just click on the name of the mailing list.

If you want to access a private list that is not advertised, then you will need to go directly there suing the following address format:
http://www.british-genealogy.com/mailman/listinfo/name-of-the-list
But of course, unless you are authorised to get into the private list, then you would't be able to do much there.

It is important to know how to get to a mailing list's information page, as that is the gateway through which all of the features are accessed.

When you join a list (or are added to the list membership by its list administrator) the Mailman will automatically send you a message telling you the URL (web page address) that you need to go to in order to access the list information page. On most lists, the Mailman will also automatically send you a monthly reminder with the web page address of the list information page. If you have difficulty finding the information page for a particular list, then you should contact that lists's List Administrator.

Doing things with the List Manager

Don't get too excited about that. The List Manager is the Mailman, and he is a computer.

This section assumes that you are able to access your list's information page, either directly, or through the directory of lists as described in the section above.

When you arrive at the information page of a list you will see information divided into sections. The first section directs you to the list's archives if they are available. (See the archives section below for more details). The list information page also tells you how to send a message to the list. Almost all lists are configured to prevent postings by someone who has not subscribed, so if you try to post a message to a list before you join it the message will probably be rejected and returned to you.

At the bottom of the list information page is a section for people who are already subscribers.. The first option is a button that allows you to see the people who are subscribed to the list. Note that many List Administrators disable this function in which case it will not appear on the page. Other lists make this option available only to people who are members of the list, in which case you are prompted for your email address and password after requesting subscriber information.

The final item on the page allows subscribers to change their configuration information. Members of the list can type their e-mail address into the box (you need to type in the address that the mail list delivers mail to if you have more than one address), and then click on the Edit Options button. More details on this feature are described in the List Options section below.

Subscribing

To be able to subscribe to a mailing list, you need to know how to get to its List Information Page.

Subscribing to a list is simple and includes safeguards to prevent abuse of the list. In the subscription section of the list's information page, type your e-mail address and then select a password. The password will be used later when you want to log in and change your personal settings.

When you fill out the form you will also have the option to receive mail in either normal list mode, or in digest form. If you change your mind later, you will be able to change the digest option at a later time as detailed in the "options" section below.

After you supply your email address and password you should press the subscribe button to add yourself to the list.

Your addition to the list is not, however, immediate. After you submit the form the Mailman will send an email message to the address that you used to subscribe. The message will ask you to confirm your subscription request. This is to prevent someone from maliciously adding you to mail lists that you do not want to join.

When you receive the confirmation request just follow the instructions. The simplest thing to do is to just hit the "reply" button in your mail software. If you send the message back without altering the subject line (the Re: added by your mailer is OK) then your confirmation will be accepted.

After successfully confirming your subscription the Mailman will send you a welcome message. That message will include the following important information.

  • The URL that takes you directly to the list's information page
  • The URL that takes you directly to your personal settings page
  • Your password

Please keep this message in a safe place. You will need the information that it contains if you ever want to modify your personal settings or remove yourself from the list.

For most lists this information will be mailed to you as a monthly reminder, but just to be safe you should always keep the original.

Remember, this feature of the British-Genealogy mailing lists may be different from what you are used to with other mailing lists. It is there for your protection, and also for your own convenience and easy control of your mailing lists.

Setting your list options

Once you have subscribed to a mailing list there are a number of things that you can do to administer and control your subscription. The easiest way of accessing your subscription options is by going to the URL (web page) delivered in your welcome message. If you do not have it handy, then you can go direct to the list information page if you know the name of the list. Tell your web browser to open:

http://www.british-genealogy.com/mailman/listinfo/NameOfList

e.g. http://www.british-genealogy.com/mailman/listinfo/ENG-Devon

At the bottom of the list information page is a blank that will allow you to type in your e-mail address and click the Edit Options button.

Note that if you have multiple e-mail accounts you need to supply the address that you are using as a member of the list whose options you are trying to edit.

When you reach your settings, the confirmation screen is divided into four sections.

  1. Unsubscribing and accessing other lists
  2. Password options
  3. General subscription options
  4. Mailing list archives

Unsubscribing and accessing other lists

The first section of the configuration screen is straightforward. If you want to remove yourself from the mailing list, then all you need do is put your password in the blank and click the unsubscribe button. The password is required to prevent other people from removing you from the list without you knowing.

It is likely that you will be subscribed to several of the British-Genealogy mailing lists. The Mailman allows you to jump from one configuration screen to another through the use of the "other subscriptions" feature. This is useful, for example, if you are going on vacation and need to change to the "no mail" option on several lists while you are away.

Password options

The password section of the configuration screen provides you with two options.

  1. Forgotten Password
    It allows you to be sent your password if you have forgotten it. Note that for security purposes it will mail your password to the e-mail account that you have registered - preventing unauthorised access to your password.
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  2. Change Password
    To change your password you need to type in your old password once, and then the new password twice. It is good security habit to change all of your passwords once a month; it is also a good idea to change your password from the computer generated random password if you were manually added to the list by the List Administrator.

There are two additional things that you should know about the Mailman's handling of passwords.

  • As a convenience to the user, the Mailman is configured to send you a monthly reminder of the lists that you are subscribed to, the List Information URLs of those lists, and your personal passwords for those lists. When you receive this reminder you do not need to do anything, but it is a good idea to keep the message in case you want to make modifications to your subscriptions
  • It is also important to keep in mind that you have a separate password for each of the lists that you are subscribed to, even though they may be on the same server.

If you ever forget a password, remember that you can request that it be sent to you from the List Information page.

General subscription options

At the bottom of the configuration screen are the general subscription options for the list as they are set for your account. When you first open this page the options show your current settings. You may make changes to these settings and then put them into effect by typing your password at the bottom of the screen and then clicking on the "submit my changes" button.

Here is a summary of the settings and what they mean:

Option Available Settings

You need to look at these settings carefully if you are thinking about changing them. The settings may mean the reverse of what you think they do!
Disable mail delivery

  • Off: mail delivery is not disabled.
    "Off" means that you will receive mail.
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  • On: mail delivery is disabled.
    "On" means that you will not receive mail
Set Digest Mode
  • Off: messages sent to the list will be delivered to you one at a time (List Mode)
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  • On: messages sent to the list will be collected by the Mailman, batched together, and then mailed to you daily as a single, large message.
Get MIME or Plain Text Digests MIME is a way of sending mail that allows for document formatting. Most modern mail readers can handle MIME mail; older, text based mail readers may have problems.
  • MIME: digests will be sent in MIME compliant format.
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  • Plain Text: use this option if your mail reader has problems with MIME digests.
Receive posts you sent to the list?
  • Yes: messages that you send to the list will be sent to your account.
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  • No: you will not receive a copy of messages that you send to the list. Some people find copies of their own messages annoying. This option will prevent you from having to read your own words.
Conceal yourself from subscriber list?
  • No: people who have access to the "view list members" option will be able to see that you are a member of the list.
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  • Yes: people who have access to the "view list members" option will not be able to see you listed even though you are a member of the list and receive messages

Note: some List Administrators may disable this feature completely,  (the "view list option" is not available to anyone), in which case you would not see this option to conceal yourself.

As mentioned above, after making changes to any of these settings you should then type your password into the space provided at the bottom of the screen and click the "submit my changes" button. After submitting your changes the page will be reloaded and the settings should reflect any modifications that you made.

Mailing List Archives

Most List Administrators will choose to activate the Mailman's powerful archival features to make old messages available to members. The Mailman makes its archives available though each list's information page. Bear in mind that the List Administrator may have chosen not to archive a particular list to which you belong. Also keep in mind that it is general practice to make the list archive available only to individuals who are subscribed to the mailing list.

If the archive is "open" then you will be able to go straight in from the Information Page. If the archive is for subscribers only (the norm) then you will be prompted for your e-mail address (make sure to use the address that the list knows you as) and your list password. Once in, you will be shown a historical listing of list messages.

The default setting for the archive is to divide messages by month. Do not be surprised, however, if you see some other division of the archive contents: the List Administrator decides how things will be divided up.

There are different viewing options for each month:

  • Thread: separates each topic that was discussed from one another and then displays the messages that are part of each "thread" following one another in indented fashion. This view is the best to use if you want an idea of how conversation on a particular topic progressed.
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  • Subject: sorts all postings alphabetically by the subject line. This view is useful for finding a particular topic, but it will not show the relationships in a visual fashion as the Thread view.
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  • Author: sorts all postings alphabetically based on the name of the author.
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  • Date: sorts all postings by the date that they were delivered to the list.

After you have chosen how you wish to view the archive you will see the headers of the messages displayed according to your specified criterion. To read an individual message, just click on the subject line. When the message appears there will be additional navigational information allowing you to see the previous or next messages (as you had them sorted), or to request the listing of all the messages again sorted by a different criterion.

The final option allows you to download a Gzip'd version of the archive text. Gzip is a compression utility whose files end in .gz. Most "zip" utilities are able to open Gzip'd files. When you download and unzip this file you will have the entire contents of the archive's period.

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