There’s a List for That
by David Andrews
From the Editor: David Andrews occupies one of the most active roles in our organization but with little visibility to members who are not a part of a Federation list. He has the unenviable task of reading almost every message that goes across our lists, and he does what he can to keep messages on topic and to deal with the most egregious of them when someone unfamiliar with or hostile to our mission tries to cause problems for list members. Our lists are a tremendous resource, and so too is our friend, colleague, and Federationist David Andrews. Here is what he says:
Those of you who have read the Braille Monitor for a while will remember that in the 1990s and early 2000s we used to publish articles talking about new lists on nfbnet.org. However, with the growth of technology and its use, the proliferation of our lists, and the increased use of social media, this is no longer feasible. Consequently, we are going to publish short monthly columns that talk about mailing lists in one area. That area can be geographic, such as a state, or it can be a topic, such as technology or blind kids. We will alternate between geographic and topical presentations.
As you may know, the site http://www.nfbnet.org offers hundreds of lists that discuss specific topics. These vehicles are often called listservs or listserves, make your choice. Technically, Listserv is a software package, not a list, like Kleenex is a brand, not a generic term for facial tissue. Personally, I prefer to call them “internet mailing lists.”
A list is something you subscribe to or join. It has a specific purpose and can be public or private, announce-only or open for discussion. Once you subscribe, your email address is on the list, along with that of everyone else who has joined. If it is an open list, anything you or anyone else who is subscribed writes is sent to all the other members. And if you reply to a message, it automatically goes to everyone else who is subscribed to the list. If it is an announce-only list, the number of people authorized to post is limited, and the list is only used for announcements, not discussions or questions. Overall, internet mailing lists are an easy, efficient, and quick way to get information out to thousands of Federationists and others in the blind community. It is a good way for local chapters, state affiliates, committees, divisions, and others to communicate and hold discussions. Who doesn’t have email?
An alphabetical list of all our public internet mailing lists can be found at http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/. There are approximately 240 lists on the page, so finding something can be a little overwhelming—hence this monthly column. As you can see from the webpage, each list has a list name and a short description. The list name is also a link and takes you to an info page from which you can subscribe. You can go directly to a list’s info page with the URL http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/listname_nfbnet.org, where “listname” is the aforementioned list name. You can also go directly to a list’s archive with the URL http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/listname_nfbnet.org. Finally, you can subscribe directly to a list using email by sending an email to [email protected] and put the word “subscribe” in the subject line by itself.
The NFBNet.org server also contains three lists to which you cannot subscribe, but you are probably receiving an occasional email from them. They are NFBNET-Members-List, NFBNET-Master-List, and NFBNET-Students-list. These lists are generated dynamically as needed. Their membership is automatically taken from the other lists on NFBNET.org. The Members List is composed of those lists concerned with the NFB and its business. The Master List is composed of everybody on all lists on the server—there are a few non-NFB lists that others may be on—generally dedicated to a specific topic, and the Students List is composed of people from all our student-related lists. We used to send important messages to all the lists that might be interested. This was time consuming for me and resulted in a person getting multiple copies of a message if she was subscribed to multiple lists, as many people are. This way you just get one message. You can ask to be excluded from these lists; however, they are the best way to keep up with what is happening in the Federation and with breaking events. We sometimes need to contact legislators on short notice, and other things frequently need immediate attention, and this is the best way to inform thousands of Federationists easily and quickly.
The NFBNET server also supports approximately forty-five websites for state affiliates, local chapters, and divisions of the NFB. There are also approximately eighty private lists that support various affiliates, chapters, divisions, and projects run by the Federation. These are private spaces where people can openly discuss things only of interest to them. Membership on these private lists is by invitation only, and their archives are not public.
Next month we will get started by telling you about the lists for the state of Maryland. Our lists are valuable resources, and the more we know about them the better able we are to make full use of them.
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