The following checklist is independent of any particular list robot software. The concepts are universal but the way that each is achieved will vary. Majordomo and Listserv are two of the most common types of discussion lists. For more background on using Lists, see the second half od the article Introducing Email. More extensive online support is available on the Email Lists page of this VECO Workshop site.

Discussion lists use email as the means of communication.

Basic skills - I can:

• Locate "lists of lists"

• Subscribe to a list
  (This may be done by sending an email message to the list software or you may be able to subscribe through a web form.)

• Read an email message header so that I can tell whether the message was sent to me personally or to a list.

• Send mail to a list address

• Respond to a message posted to a list by replying to the sender

• Respond to a message posted to a list by replying to the whole list

• Obtain the help files for the list software (there will usually be information about this in the welcome message)

• Find out who else is on the lists that I join (how to do this will usually be included in the help files)

• Get myself off a mailing list

• Search a list archive

Not all lists have archives visible on the World Wide Web. When archives are available they may have browse and search options.