Hey Mr. Postman

One of the most useful things you can do with an email account is subscribe to "email lists," a rather misleading name for an easy, fun way to keep informed. Basically, each list is a group of individuals who are interested in a topic -- and there are thousands of them -- who keep in contact and share conversations via their personal email accounts. It's a great way to find a virtual discussion group and the best way to ensure your mailbox is never empty.

There are two kinds of email lists: read-only and read/write. A read-only email list is very much like a print newsletter or magazine distributed to subscribers, but it's free. Read/write email lists are more informal; whatever one subscriber posts to the list gets distributed to all the other list subscribers. These discussion lists can function as a virtual brain pool, a community of like-minded individuals, a mentoring/support system or just a hangout.

There are thousands of discussion lists out there. Here are 3 directories; each one is a list of lists you can sign up for:

* Liszt, the Mailing list Directory
* Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists
* Tile.Net

Keep in mind that some lists are high-volume and can deposit a hundred or more messages into your mailbox every day, so add subscriptions carefully. New members should always read the introductory message, and wait to start posting until they understand the group's objectives and rules. And be sure to save the instructions for technical help or unsubscribing. You don't send administrative requests to the same address where you send comments, and you don't want to announce a technical question to every person on the list, lest you get FLAMED for being a "newbie."

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