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A "listserv,"
also commonly known as a "mailing list" is a way
to keep in touch with site participants and viewers via
email.
By joining
the listserv you become a member of the photobetty email
community. Here we discuss all sorts of things, like hooking
up for dinner or drinks, ride and hotel sharing at conferences,
and photo-related issues and current events (often in regards
to women). Even the occasional gear discussion comes up
too, but there's usually better lists for that...
A listserv
works like a discussion group. After signing
up, when you send an email to the photobetty@yahoogroups.com
email address your email is transmitted to everyone signed
up on the list. Active discussions ensue and everyone benefits
by either chiming in with their 2 cents or by just simply
listening in on the conversations.
Is
this going to fill my email box up?
On most
occasions, no. Though, if discussions get active you can
get quite a few messages in a day. You can, though, easily
set your account to "DIGEST" mode which simply
sends you just one email summarizing all of the messages
sent each day.
Will
I get a bunch of spam?
Nope, you shouldn't. While we don't moderate everyone's
posts (this is a pain for both us and you,) we will kick
people off who join lists simply to promote some sort of
unrelated merchandise or service. This means, at
times, things get through, but we work hard to get them
kicked off quickly. If things get out of hand, then we'll
moderate the list. But things have gone really smoothly
so far.
The
list is hosted by the Yahoo web site, in turn they stick
a small advertisement in the email you send. It's fairly
unobtrusive to most people. Also, when signing up for anything,
always check out what your signing up for. You'll probably
want to UNCHECK the little boxes that say "Send me
related advertisements or email" type of things. This
is yahoo's way of getting more for their signup buck. You
can simply avoid this by UNCHECKING THOSE BOXES. Easy enough...
Oh,
Behave!
Listserv
etiquette is no different than your normal behavior talking
to people in person. Keeping this in mind will earn you
friends and respect pretty fast. Badmouthing someone will
not earn you many friends and rattling on about yourself
will bore people pretty quickly. Some people forget these
simple rules they use everyday in normal conversations when
they're behind the keyboard and end up not having such a
good time. In 2 words, BE POLITE, and you won't have any
trouble.
Promoting
oneself on the listserv is tolerable in small doses.
But imagine this scenario... You and your friends are having
a conversation, and this person comes by and jumps in saying,
"Hey, I'm having a gallery opening today!" or
"Check out my pics on today's front page!" then
simply bails out of the conversation to find another group
of people to announce their pet project to. Everybody's
going to think that person is kind of a self-important weirdo.
And they'd be right. So, announcing things you're doing
is OK, just remember the context of the conversations and
think about how feedback from the group might be important
to you.
That's
it! Thanks! And have fun!
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