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| Ezine, Discussion and Announcement List Etiquette by Shelley Lowery The information super highway; countless intertwining roads of information all merging into one massive freeway. That's the Internet. Just about any form of information you could ever want, right at your fingertips. The Internet is far more than just websites. Information is delivered via email, downloads, newsgroups and forums just to name a few. In addition, there are literally thousands of ezines, discussion groups and announcement lists.These groups are composed of individuals who either receive information in the form of a publication or share information with a group. Although these lists can provide you with a wealth of information, they can be very time consuming for the owners. With that in mind, this article will provide you with some basic list etiquette guidelines.EzinesEzines, also known as email magazines, online publications and electronic newsletters, are simply newsletters available via email and/or online. Subscribers sign up to receive a publication and may unsubscribe at any time. Publications may be delivered to your email daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly.Discussion GroupsDiscussion groups are groups of individuals who have signed up to participate in group discussions. This type of group delivers messages to your email each time a member posts. When you reply to a message, it will be delivered to the entire group.Announcement ListsAnnouncement lists enable members to sign up to receive and post announcements in regard to a specific subject. This type of group may deliver messages as they are posted or you may receive a certain number of the messages at one time. Forums/Message BoardsForums or message boards are online threaded discussion groups in which messages are displayed on web pages. Some forums require you to register in order to become a member, while others require no registration.ModeratorsMost types of discussion groups, announcement lists and forums will have one or more moderators. Moderators make sure that posts are appropriate and try to prevent spammers from posting.Posting GuidelinesNo matter what type of list or group you join, each will have its own set of posting guidelines. Make sure you always review the guidelines and double-check your post prior to submission. Not only will your message get posted more quickly, but it will also save the moderator a great deal of time.When posting or replying to posts, make sure that you stay on topic. If you're posting to a group that focuses on "Ezines," you wouldn't want to post a question or information about "Gardening." In addition, always be very tactful. Everyone is there to learn and share information. There is absolutely no reason to hurt someone's feelings by publicly humiliating them or being rude. Keep in mind, there is a human being with feelings behind each post.When posting to an announcement group, make sure you follow the posting guidelines. Not only will this save the list owner a great deal of time, but it will also prevent you from having to repost your message when it gets rejected.In addition to following the guidelines, make sure that you don't post your message more than once. Announcement lists receive many submissions and only send out a certain number of posts each day. It may take up to a week or longer before your message is approved. Reposting only serves to delay the process even further.UnsubscribingIn order to remove yourself or unsubscribe from an ezine, discussion group or announcement list, you must follow the instructions for each individual publication. Some lists will provide a link that will instantly remove your email address. Others will require you to send an email message to remove yourself. However, you MUST send the unsubscribe email message from the same address you used to subscribe.Many times, subscribers may use an email address that redirects to their main email account. When they try to remove themselves from a list, they can't remember which address they used to subscribe. This causes them to become frustrated and take their anger out on the list owner. There is no way for a list owner to determine what email address a subscriber used to subscribe to the list. However, there is a way you can locate the address yourself and save yourself and the list owner a great deal of frustration.If you're using Outlook:Under the "View" menu, select "Message header" or "Source."If you're using Eudora:Click on the "Bla bla" button.By viewing the message headers, you can determine what email address the message was sent to. This is the email address you used to subscribe to the group. Your unsubscribe message MUST come from this address in order to remove itfrom the database. SPAMProfessional list owners will NEVER add your email address to their database without your knowledge. Most of the time, if you're receiving their publication, you subscribed and may have forgotten. Keep in mind, the keyword is "Professional" list owners. There are many list owners that use unethical means of obtaining email addresses. Before making a "SPAM" complaint, it is VERY important that you understand the consequences. NEVER make a SPAM complaint unless you are absolutely positive that it is in fact, SPAM. It is much better to delete one hundred potential SPAM messages than to wrongly accuse one innocent publisher of SPAM. What you probably don't realize is that when you make a SPAM complaint about a publication, yourcomplaint also affects advertisers and article writers thathave no affiliation with the publication. One SPAM complaint can cost an innocent publisher, advertiser and writer their entire business. It's just not worth it.AdvertisingAlthough many ezines will allow you to purchase advertising, discussion groups, announcement lists and forums DO NOT allow blatant advertising. This is considered SPAM and will probably get you immediately removed. Most groups will allow you to include your signature. Make sure you review the guidelines prior to posting.If we all work together and follow a few simple guidelines, we can make the Internet a better place for us all. About the Author Shelley Lowery is the author of Ebook Starter - A completeebook design kit. Subscribe to Etips, for a wealth of quality information to assist you in Web Design, Internet Marketing & Ecommerce. All new subscribers receive a free copy of the highly acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies." http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=bl1 |
| Microsoft's RSS Longhorn Announcement - What It Really Means To You? by Titus Hoskins Does DOS mean anything to you? If you're like 95% ofcomputer users - probably not much. But that doesn't stop us from enjoying our computers and fully benefitingfrom DOS. Sometimes complete ignorance is bless. Unless you're a techie and such technical stuff sets yourheart a racing, knowledge of such material is not reallyrequired by the end-user. People don't have to understand 'HTML' to enjoy the Internet. Likewise, knowledge of RSS is not important to theordinary computer or Internet user. Microsoft'sRSS Longhorn statement puts RSS where it rightfullybelongs, in the background, invisible...seamlesslyintegrated into your computing and web browsingexperience. It will make RSS an integral element of its new operating system which has the codename - Longhorn. It will firmly place RSS into the heart of your computing experience, enriching and enhancing it in more ways than even Microsoft is probably aware of yet! RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication' and it haslong been associated with blogs and blogging becausethey are written in RSS or XML format - code like HTML.DOS stands for 'Disk Operating System' by the way and its the platform for operating systems on yourcomputer. MS-DOS is the most widely used system.Ignorance can sometimes be overrated. Microsoft's announcement to place RSS features into its nextWindows version - due out in 2006 and in servers by 2007- is truly groundbreaking . You can read more aboutthis June 24th announcement in an eWeek Articleby Peter Galli. This takes RSS out of just browsers and RSS readers (called aggregators); and gives it much more powerful applications. Most interesting is a new set of applications - Simple List Extensions - allowing web sites to publish feeds containing lists such as a wish list or top 10 list. Should make DavidLetterman happy! All kidding aside, for you, these RSS applications willmake subscribing to a web site or feed a lot easier. You can now take control of your Internet, viewingand accessing the information you want to digest. What's really important about Microsoft's plans, (I believe)is the fact that this now makes RSS legit. Lets face it,outside of blogging and a few alert online marketers, RSS isstill not understood by most people. But as stated before, people don't have to understand 'HTML' to enjoy the Internet. They don't really have to know about servers, DOS, or even ISPs to get full benefit from the web. Likewise, RSS doesn't have to be known or even understood by the majority of the people who will be using it. But it's helpful that you do understand that for you the future of RSS holds many treats and the full impact won't really be known for years. Under the Creative Commons license,RSS applications could have a far reaching impact on your computing world of the future. The potential of RSS is enormous. It may even pave the way for a 'Billion Channel Internet' - where each web site is its own little broadcasting system. An interactive channel that broadcasts audio and video feeds to all interested subscribers. Microsoft's announcement may just be the nucleus of sucha system. Many components are already in place like podcasting,broadcatching, data feeds, etc. and it's not that great a leap or too fantastical to imagine such a system will exist in the very near future. For RSS changes HOW information is transmitted on the web...from a passive role to a more pro-active one.Don't come to us - we will deliver. RSS is also one of the more democratic elements of theweb where the little guy has a say. It was more than fitting that Microsoft's RSS team met with Dave Winer(Mr. RSS to those who keep a close watch on all things RSS)and asked his opinions on these recent developments. Ordinary Bloggers have preached the benefits of RSS for solong - the mantra was becoming a tiresome echo across theweb. No one seemed to be taking RSS seriously. In that light, it can't be understated that Microsoft's incorporation of RSS into Windows is one of those true 'turning points' that has to be acknowledged. It does change how computers and the Internet will work. This is a great step forward in making RSS an integrated andseamless component of computers. Without a doubt, it is the most important thing to hit the computing world since Bill Gates learned how to count to one! At last, someone has gotten RSS right. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Copyright © 2005 Titus Hoskins. This author's articles on RSS have appeared on such sites as: Sitepronews, Bonafidereviews, Addme, and Ezinearticles. To add RSS to your Site within minutes, download this simple RSS and Blogging Guide.This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached. |
