Listserving

Listserves allow groups to email each other with open or moderated mailing lists.

 

Types of listservs

The most common type of activist listserv is a closed listserv with moderation. In order to have a message reach the group, the writer sends the email to the listserv email address. A mod or admin is notified and can approve or deny the message. Replies to the messages sent out route back to the origional author.

A second type is completely open and it is highly prone to spamming, and it generally hated by many activist. In this type, anyone who comes across the listserv address can send an email to the group. When a recipient replies to the email, the reply is sent to every member of the group again. This type is generally highly unfavorable, except with small close-knit groups of organizers who are having ongoing discussions together over email. 

 

Avoid Spamming

Spam is an annoyance to many and all emailing must be carefully considered to avoid spamming behaviors. No-spam promises are often made to people joining mailing lists.

When adding someone to a listserv, make sure you have their explicit permission. Many people hate getting more than 5 emails a day, from everyone they know, so sending one a week would still be unwanted. When starting a listserv, just email out everyone who you think would be interested, and from there they can let you know whether or not to add them to the list.

Unregulated mailing lists like Yahoo Groups are subject to spamming, as well as any other unmoderated listservs. Once people from any even slightly related organizations get a hold of the listserv distribution email address, they will start promoting their events through your list. This can be irritating with unmoderated lists- if you have a list for an infoshop, the people on the list won't want to get 5 emails a week from the native rights group, the independant film group, food not bombs, and random charity events. They want to hear about the infoshop, and the infoshop only! 

 

Mailing List Services

 

Riseup.net provides mailing lists for activist groups. They will provide free listservs for small groups interested in topics like radicalism, social justice, and community. They are quite excellent, with quick sending times, many user options, and simple interface. They also offer free email addresses and can be trusted seeing as they're a small collective of anonymous radical computer geeks who apparently do all their work from a tiny room somewhere in Washington state, sources say. 

http://www.mutualaid.org/ also provides listservs for radical groups. They were more popular several years back and were more reliable then. As they got more requests for lists, their site became slower and slower, until their listserv was getting behind my days and weeks. They used to be a popular choice in free web hosting and email, but because of problems, they're no longer taking requests for lists and sites, and now only maintain their older listservs.