Help!

Help with navigating this site
If you are new to the VECO website there are several ways to navigate depending on your preference.
- The Express menu at the top of each page takes you straight to the main website sections
- the side menu on most pages links you direct to related pages
- the sitemap gives a bird's eye view of the entire site and its structure
- for frequent visitors, the Web update section will take you straight to the newest material available on the site

Help with participating online
If you are new to email and the Internet then you may wish to refer to some of the material in the VECO workshop Making the most of online communities.

Useful software tools
Active online participation means keeping your  computer up to date with recent versions of commonly used  tools. Most of these are free and can be dowloaded or obtained from the cover CDs on monthly Computer magazines.

The VECO site uses a number of Javascripts so browsers that are version 4 or above are recommended.

We have collected some of these together  for you on the VECO software tools page.

Email lists demystified
VECO uses email lists as tools for building online communities. If you are new to email lists some general background information is included in the VECO workshop materials.

The VECO Rules of Play give the rules of netiquette and guidelines for acceptable participation in VECO activities.

The following are Frequently asked questions about participating in email lists:

Is it true that discussion lists can be a problem because they fill up your mailbox ?
This depends very much on the particular list that you are on. If the archive of the list is available you may prefer to check that before joining. This will give you some idea of the traffic volume on the list and will help you decide whether it is a list you wish to participate in.

What is the critical information I need to know to participate in a discussion list?
- How to subscribe
- How to unsubscribe
- The list address so that you can send messages to the list
- How to send instructions to the list robot software
- The name and email address of the 'list administrator' in case of problems
- The web address of the list archives (if they exists).

Each VECO email list has its own web page containing this information.

Why is it important to keep the welcome message for a list?
The welcome message will usually contain some detail about accepted practice on the list. This in turn conveys an impression of the culture of the list.
The welcome message will usually include various list instructions eg how to unsubscribe from the list and how to find out who else is on the list

What is wrong with sending attachments to lists?

The main issue about sending attachments to lists is the unnecessary bandwidth used in the process. It would be rare for everyone on a list to want any given attachment so an alternative is to summarise the information and offer to send it as an attachment to personal emails.  Another option is to have it available on your own website.

The other main concern is the risk of transmitting viruses. This is a real risk and has happened. NOTE: you cannot get a virus from opening an email message but you CAN by opening an email attachment that is infected with a virus.

How do I reply to a message that was sent to the list so that everyone on the list gets my reply?
When a list is set up, it is set up so that a "reply" will automatically go to either the sender of the message OR to the whole list.

For example, the voced-coord list is set up so that replies go to the sender of the original message. If you want to send your reply to the whole list, you need to delete the sender's name in the 'To' part of the message header and replace it with the list address. For example, the list address for the voced-coord list is

voced-coord@rite.ed.qut.edu.au

What do I do if I change my email address?
If your email address changes you will need to unsubscribe the old address and resubscribe the new address. If you no longer have access to your old address you may need to contact the list owner for assistance. Each VECO list has its own page on the VECO web with explicit instructions and links for you to manage your subscription from the web.

What "powers" does the list owner have that other participants don't have?
The list owner has access via password to a number of functions:-
- adding and removing participants
- changing the list's welcome message

The list owner does NOT get a copy of email sent from one individual to another.

The idea of a list community sounds great but I'm really new to email and computers in general. How can I be sure I won't do the wrong thing?
One of the great things about the 'community' concept is that it is accepted as natural that there will be newcomers, highly experienced people and others in between. So even if you do make some mistakes (we all do) it won't matter. It is a user friendly environment with help available (of the human or machine kind depending on your preference). The more people that contribute means that the information at your fingertips can only grow too.

First published April 24, 1997. Last modified October 7, 2000.