Mailing Lists

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Rootsweb Mailing List Instructions

Mailing lists are remarkably simple beasties: you send a piece of e-mail to the list's address, and the list retransmits that message to everyone who is subscribed. You must be a subscriber to post to any list hosted by RootsWeb EXCEPT for ROOTS-L.

All Lists Have Two Addresses

Every mailing list really has two addresses: the list name, where posts should be sent, and the list name followed by -request, where commands to the listserver software should be sent. For example, posts to ROOTS-L should go to [email protected] while "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests should go to [email protected].

List Modes Affect How You Receive Posts

Mailing lists can operate in any of three modes:

MAIL mode, where every post is sent to subscribers as a separate piece of e-mail. MAIL mode requires a great deal of effort by the listserving computer. MAIL mode lists are often named listname-M.

DIGEST mode, where about twenty posts are batched together and then sent to the subscribers. Digests produce less clutter in your mailbox, but replying to an individual message may require a little extra effort. Digest mode lists are often named listname-D.

INDEX mode, where a list of the Subject: and From: lines for each post is sent daily to the subscribers. Subscribers can then request only the messages they want to see. INDEX mode lists are often named listname-I.

Besides those lists, the default mode for a list is sometimes called listname-L. For example, the default mode of ROOTS-L is DIGEST, so ROOTS-L really is three lists: ROOTS-L, ROOTS-M, and ROOTS-I.

Be aware, though, that many lists (especially small ones) do not adhere to these conventions.

How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe

It's easy -- just click on the list you want. When the "mail-to" window pops up, write just the single word "subscribe" in the body of the message. That's all.

If you want to unsubscribe from a list, click on it and write just the single word "unsubscribe" in the body of the message.

General Interest Lists

ROOTS-L

	ROOTS-L: This is the Grand Old List itself, with almost a decade of continuous operation and almost 10000 subscribers. Traffic is high on ROOTS-L: if you subscribe, expect to receive a hundred or more messages each day gathered into three to ten 40KB digests.
	ROOTS-I: This is the INDEX mode for ROOTS-L.
	ROOTS-M: is the MAIL mode version of ROOTS-L, and subscribers receive 100-200 pieces of mail daily from the list. Because of the high cost of providing this volume of mail, ROOTS-M is only available to RootsWeb Contributors.