Group/List Joining and Etiquette
~ by Frances McColl Stewart

http://www.N-etiquette.com  ~  http://www.Dynamite-iT.com  ~  http://www.AnyFrontPage.com

One of the great things about the Internet is that you are never alone unless you want to be. No matter how solitary your hobby or current interest, there are others out there who are sliding along the same learning curve you are. Some are frustrated; some are having the time of their lives; and you will be able to identify with both!!

How do you reach these people from all over the world? It is simple. Search any search engine and use your interest as a keyword and add “group” or “list”. Be extremely specific. It would be very surprising if your search engine did not give you a list of contacts for your choice. Just as an example, a webmaster might use “web design group” or “php list” or “frontpage list” as keywords. The latter will give you 796,000 webpage returns. The top two entries are both At-FrontPage, http://www.at-frontpage.com/, which offers Tutorials and other help, but it is the Mail List that we are interested in at the present. AccessFP, http://www.accessfp.net/, and Themes In Design, http://www.themesindesign.com/emailist.htm are next in the returns. They also have additional offerings, but, again, it is their Mail Lists that interest us right now. Simply click into the website and join.

You will begin receiving emails almost immediately. Groups such as these are generally long-established and comprise many more members than you might guess from the emails that you will initially receive. At-FrontPage, for example is the largest and one of the oldest such discussion groups, yet, out of over 3,000 members, there are less than 100 who are ‘regular posters’. As you get to know the group and the individuals in it, you will see that certain members may only answer – or pose – questions on very specialized topics, or even on certain days of the week.

• Do not post immediately. Familiarize yourself with the rules of the group/list you have joined as well as the archives of old questions. There is a protocol that needs to be followed for each group that you join. This is mostly a matter of using good manners.
• Check the Archives of the Group prior to posing a query. Many times, as new people join, the same question is asked of a particular group again and again. Your answer may be in the Archives, saving you any embarrassment.
• Be kind in your comments and be careful with the use of capitalization to make a point. A message that is delivered in capitals is considered "shouting" or "flaming" on the Internet. This is considered extremely rude.
• Blatant advertising is inappropriate and therefore rude.
• While your e-mail or chat comments go out to the group as a whole, you should always use the name of the person to whose comment you are responding for two reasons.
  • It makes a better impression. You are trying to expand your network as well as perfect your skills.
  • It focuses you on the fact that there is a real person on the other end of your message. Too often, we feel an anonymity on the Internet and respond in ways that we would not respond person to person.
• These lists have a purpose, which involves shared knowledge. For that reason, it is counterproductive and therefore rude to reply privately. If you know the answer to a problem that has been submitted to the group, answer this using the group email. This sends the answer as well as the question to the Group Archives.
• Stay On Topic. Many who belong to forums and discussion groups, save emails as little tutorials. Many belong to more than one group. Many pay their ISP by the minute to read these emails. Carefully avoid repetition, subjects that are not pertinent, long personal anecdotes, and inappropriate language. (Most of these groups also have sister groups for ‘OT” or “Off-Topic” correspondence. If you enjoy reading about the weather in Timbuktu or why a webmaster has chosen to include recipes for pet food on their website, please join the OT group as well. Again, it is an excellent way to make friends with shared interests.)
• It is difficult to know your internet audience in a list - and in the interest of appearing professional, this is one place where humor is best avoided.
• Replies to an e-mail, and replies to those replies, are called a "string" or a "thread”. Subject lines must reflect the current contents of an e-mail. At times, the subject may change during the thread of a discussion. At this point, change the subject line information.
• It is courteous to "Snip" on reply. On many Lists, it is the rule that you must do so. This is simply deleting the original e-mail below your reply. There are generally one or two basic lines in the original email that you may have to repeat in order to make your response coherent. These trimmed quotes are generally more acceptably placed above your response. Again, this will lessen the download time immensely for those members who are paying extra for that.
• You should develop a “signature” (Sig Line) for your list postings. Generally your name and the URL of your website is sufficient. Sig Lines are subject to the same rules of courtesy as the content of your emails.
• If you wish to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc. look up the correct address to do so. Sending an e-mail to the entire list is spamming.
• Groups/Lists hold the key to success for those of us who work on the internet. The Networking possibilities are worldwide and unlimited. Learn the tricks of the trade that others have stumbled on or developed. Find answers to those pesky glitches.
• Most importantly, share the knowledge that you have, and help others as you would like to be helped. Rely on good manners and common sense to make that all-important Good Impression as you expand your contact base.

Editor's Note:  Hey...whattya know...I followed Fran's advice and did a Google search on "microsoft office group" and mine came out on top!  Check it out! Microsoft Office Group at freelists

Frances McColl Stewart is the Webmaster of N-etiquette.com and an editor of AnyFrontPage Bytes Ezine.   Subscribe to the ezine and get FREE FrontPage E-Books upon joining.