Re: which list is which?????
- Subject: Re: which list is which?????
- From: t*@Lanl.GOV (Tom Tadfor Little)
- Date: Thu, 8 Feb 96 09:43:20 MST
Harriet writes
|
|I'm still confused about the email 'groups' we have here. I understand that
|there is a true 'robin' which was only for AIS members, but everyone seems to
|be referring to the listserv as a robin too... Also, the group that is just
|sending to the big cc list (also being referred to as a robin...), now seems
|redundant with the listserv. I thought the point of the listserv was so that
|cc lists didn't have to be individually maintained.
OK. Here's the story. There are three separate projects going on for
iris people who want to keep in touch by email:
1. This mailing list. Its name is Iris-L, and it is not a robin. It
should always be referred to as a mailing list. It is open to everyone,
whether they are AIS members or not, and whether they are iris
specialists or just curious gardeners.
2. The robins. Sharon McAllister is actually starting some AIS
robins using email. Currently, the Historic Iris Preservation
Society has one of these robins operating. I don't think there are
any others yet. When people ask about joining a "general" robin,
Sharon has been pointing them here. I presume these robins (like
their snail mail equivalents) are for AIS members only, and I
presume they are for small groups, certainly less than the 40-odd
we have here currently.
3. The e-rolodex. Mike Lowe is trying to keep a master list of
*all* iris people who have email addresses, whether they want
to join any discussion group or not. To some degree, this is
less necessary now that this mailing list exists, but it still
serves a very useful function. Not all irisarians may want to join
this list and have all this discussion put in their mailbox daily.
Some of the confusion resulted from very careless use of the word
"robin". Neither this list nor Mike's e-rolodex is a robin. A robin
is a small cell of AIS members committed to conducting a scheduled,
detailed discussion on a particular topic.
|
|Also, I'm seeing where some poeple are sending to the cc list, and including
|the listserv address in the cc list, resulting in some of us getting the same
|mail twice. Could you please differentiate between the three and make a
|suggestion about why you would join one or the other? I'll send this to both
|the listserv and cc groups. Perhaps you could send your answer to both Tom,
|thanks.
I've sent to both once or twice myself, with the short progress reports
on the mailing list. That is because the idea of the mailing list
originated among Mike's e-rolodex members, and I wanted them to see
the progress report even if they had not subscribed to the mailing list.
In general, discussion on this list should *not* be copied to the
people in Mike's e-rolodex. Anyone on Mike's e-rolodex who wants to
read our discussion can easily subscribe. We have to assume that
those who have not done so don't want to.
I think my description of the three projects above pretty much clarifies
their different roles. But it's probably a good idea to answer directly
the question about why to join one or the other.
1. If you're interested in irises at any level, and want to read
some discussion of them daily, join the Iris-L mailing list
2. If you're an irisarian (especially if you're an AIS member) and have
an email address, you should give that address to Mike Lowe for his
e-rolodex. You may receive an occasional announcement about something
going on in the iris world (such as the creation of this list), but
you will not be treated to ongoing daily discussion on irises.
3. If you're an AIS member and want to conduct an in-depth discussion
of some topic with a small number of fellow iris nuts, ask Sharon
about joining a robin.
These are not mutually exclusive, of course.
I'm at work now and don't have Mike's e-rolodex list here. Mike, could
you please forward this to the people on your list? Thanks very much.
Happy irising, Tom.
Tom Tadfor Little tlittle@lanl.gov -or- telp@Rt66.com
technical writer/editor Los Alamos National Laboratory
Visit Telperion Productions on the web at
http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
