HOW TO FIND AN INTERESTING MAILINGLIST Arno Wouters - Arno.Wouters@phil.ruu.nl Last update: 5 February 1994 This document is available by email from "listserv@vm1.nodak.edu" with "GET NEW-LIST WOUTERS" or by anonymous ftp from "vm1.nodak.edu" as "new-list.wouters" in the directory "new-list". (In compiling this information I have made ample use of Marty Hoag's "Some lists of list" (as of 05/01/92) which is retrievable from NEW- LIST as "LISTSOF LISTS") TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT MAILINGLISTS TWO NOTES ON ADDRESSES SOURCES TOOLS and METHODS The LISTSERV "List of lists" The SRI NISC "interest-groups" list of lists The USENET lists of newsgroups and mailing lists The Dartmouth SIGLIST The "Directory of Scholarly Electronic Conferences" (ACADLIST) NEW-LIST LIST SEARCHES ON THE INTERNET GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT MAILINGLISTS ====================================== A mailing list is a computer program that distributes messages among a list of subscribers. This program has an email-address (listname@domain). Mail sent to this address is distributed automatically to all the subscribers. There are two types of mailing lists: manually maintained lists and automated lists. (1) In its manual form the list of subscribers is maintained by a person, the list administrator. To subscribe to such a list one should ask the list administrator to add you to the list. Typically the administrator can be reached at listname-request@domain. (2) An automated list is maintained by a program (a so-called mailserver). To (un)subscribe to an automated list one should send a message to the mailserver. Usually, this is the command "SUB listname Yourfirstname Yourlastname" to subscribe and "SIGNOFF listname" to sign off (substitute the appropriate names and leave off the quotes!). A mailserver is a program that interprets the lines in a message as a series of commands to act on, for example to mail a file or to add a person to a mailing list. To learn how to handle a mailserver one should send a one line message containing the command "help" (no quotes!) to the mailserver's address. (In some rare cases, the mailserver needs an empty message with "help" in the subject). LISTSERV is the name of the single most important mailserver on Bitnet. It provides three kinds of services: (1) mailing list management, (2) file archives, (3) address registration. A userguide is available from LISTSERV@EARNCC.BITNET by sending it the command GET LSVGUIDE MEMO. The command HELP can be sent to any Listserv. It will give you a short list of commands. "INFO REFCARD" returns a longer list, "INFO GEN" a manual. Typically, if a list's address is LIST@NODE.BITNET the list is maintained by LISTSERV@NODE.BITNET. Alternatively, if LISTSERV@NODE.BITNET maintains a list named LIST the list's address is LIST@NODE.BITNET. There are also Unix versions of Listserv that work on the Internet. Don't expect these versions to function exactly like the traditional Listserv. IMPORTANT: One should carefully distinguish between the address of the list and the address of the administrator/mailserver. Never send requests/commands for (un)subscription to the list! Such a message would bother all the participants, but it would not help you to get on/off the list. Note, that the list administrator is often just that: one of the computer people who maintains the list, but is not himself a subscriber. Alternatively, a mailserver will only react to mail that is addressed to the mailserver's address, not to the address of the lists it maintains. Type of list | Address of list | Requests/commands ----------------|------------------------|----------------------- | | Manually | listname@domain | listname-request@domain | | LISTSERVed | listname@node.BITNET | LISTSERV@node.BITNET | | TWO NOTES ON ADDRESSES ====================== Internet addresses have the format user@domain (for example John.Doe@phil.ruu.nl), Bitnet uses the format user@bitnetnode (for example JDOE@HNYKUN51). To send mail from Internet to Bitnet append ".BITNET" to the Bitnet address (e.g. JDOE@HNYKUN51.BITNET). To send mail from BITNET to Internet one could use the Internet address without any changes. Janet users in the United Kingdom should reverse the order of the Internet domainnames and Internet users outside the UK should reverse the order of Janet domainnames. SOURCES ======= There are several lists of lists available. The main ones are: -the Listserv "list of lists" on Bitnet; -the Internet "interest-groups" list; -two lists of Usenet newsgroups; -the Usenet list of "Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists" on Internet and UUCP networks; -a combined list of Bitnet and Internet lists from Dartmouth (SIGLIST); -the "Directory of Scholarly Electronic Conferences" (ACADLIST), an annotated list of mailing lists, newsgroups, newsletters, electronic journals etc. that are of interest to academics; Another important sources is: -NEW-LIST, a Listserved mailing list and archive for announcements of new lists. In addition, the NEW-LIST archive contains copies of both the Listserv and the "interest-groups" lists of lists in a searchable format. (The WAIS based "lists" database on CIC-net is dissolved). TOOLS and METHODS ================= Basically, there are two methods to access these sources: (1) on line searches (2) retrieve a list and search through it at home (electronically or after printing). As most lists are long, the first method is often the prefered one. Internet tools for on line retrieval: gopher, WAIS, telnet (one tool would suffice, gopher is the preferred one). Listserv databases can be searched interactively from VAX/VMS and from VM/SP CMS systems. Other users should submit batch jobs by email. Send an "INFO DATABASE" to an appropriate Listserv for more information. Tools for retrieving files: anonymous ftp (Internet only) and email. Make sure you have enough disk space available, since most lists are VERY long. Tools for searching the retrieved files include your favourite word processor, GREP commands, hypercard etc. The LISTSERV "List of lists" ============================ The Listserv list of lists contains one line descriptions of Listserved lists on Bitnet. Most (but not all) Listservs will get you a copy after submitting the command "LIST GLOBAL". Most servers would also allow for the command "LIST GLOBAL /string" (e.g. "LIST GLOBAL /philos") to get those lists which have "string" in their description. The SRI NISC "interest-groups" list of lists ============================================ This is a list with descriptions of special interest group mailing lists available on the Internet, compiled by Steven Bjork. New versions of this list are typically issued on a quarterly basis. The file "interest-groups" (over 1.2 MB!) is available: -by anonymous ftp from sri.com in the directory "netinfo". -by email from mail-server@sri.com ("send interest-groups"). A hardcopy, indexed version is available from Prentice Hall under the title "Internet: Mailing Lists" (ISBN 0-13-327941-3). The USENET lists of newsgroups and mailing lists ================================================ David Lawrence maintains two lists of newsgroups on Usenet. The "List of Active Newsgroups" lists the regular Usenet newsgroups. The Usenet software also allows the transport of hierarchies of newsgroups not part of the "traditional" Usenet (bionet, alt-groups, bit.listserv etc.). These groups are listed in the list of "Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies". Both lists contain one line descriptions. Stephanie da Silva maintains the list of "Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists". This is a list of mailing lists available primarily through the Internet and the UUCP network. The list includes short descriptions of the purpose of the lists. These lists are distributed via the Usenet newsgroups news.lists and news.answers (monthly updates). News.answers is archived at many sites. The files are named "active-newsgroups", "alt-hierarchies" and "mailing-lists". They can also be obtained from the MIT Usenet archive: -by anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu in "/pub/usenet/news.answers". -via email from "mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu" The appropriate commands are: send usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/* send usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/* send usenet/news.answers/mail/mailing-lists/* The Dartmouth SIGLIST ===================== David Avery from Dartmouth maintains a combined edited list (over 500 KB!) of Listserved and manually maintained lists on both Bitnet and Internet. The list includes short descriptions of the purpose of the lists and is sorted by category (computing, science, humanities etc.). It is updated monthly. Dartmouth provides several versions of the list. They also provide several applications (MacIntosh Hypercard, MSDOS, VM/CMS, VAX/VMS and Unix) that present the list in a nice format and facilitate searches. SIGLIST is available: -by anonymous ftp from DARTCMS1.DARTMOUTH.EDU in directory SIGLISTS. -by email from LISTSERV@DARTCMS1.BITNET ("INDEX SIGLISTS" for a list of files and "GET READ ME" for more information ) The "Directory of Scholarly Electronic Conferences" (ACADLIST) =============================================================== >From the README file: "This directory contains descriptions of electronic conferences (e-conferences) on topics of interest to scholars. E-conference is the umbrella term that includes discussion lists, interest groups, e-journals, e-newsletters, Usenet newsgroups, forums, etc. We have used our own judgment in deciding what is of scholarly interest, and accept any advice or argument about our decisions." ACADLIST (from Kent State University) is an annotated list. The entries are placed into categories according to the academic subject area of the e-conference. ACADLIST consists of 8 separate text files. Please note that the first four files contain several subject areas arranged in alphabetical order. FILE1 is titled: "Anthropology- Education", this means that it contains all the subject areas that fall alphabethically between A and E! The list is also available as a two file HYPERCARD stack and as a one file MS WORD document (MAC version!). ACADLIST is available: -by anonymous ftp from KSUVXA.KENT.EDU in the directory "library" (get "acadlist.readme" for more information). -by email from LISTSERV@KENTVM.BITNET ("GET ACADLIST README" for more information). NEW-LIST ======== The NEW-LIST mailing list at LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET provides announcements of new mailing lists. To subscribe send the command "SUB NEW-LIST Yourfirstname Yourlastname" to the LISTSERV. The mailing list is gatewayed to Usenet as the newsgroup "bit.listserv.new-list". The NEW-LIST archive is the principal source for list searches. It contains three databases in a searchable format: -lists - the LISTSERV list of lists -intgroup - the Internet "interest-groups" list -new-list - the archived contributions to the NEW-LIST mailing list. >From Marty Hoag's "Some lists of lists": "For example, to search of both these databases for lists on "bicycles" you would send the statements //DBlook JOB Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Select bicycle in lists index Select bicycle in intgroup index Select bicycle in new-list index /* in the text/body of the mail to LISTSERV@VM1.NoDak.EDU or on BITNET just LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 . These statements would search the global LISTSERV list of lists ("in lists"), and the local copy of the SRI-NIC Interest Groups ("in intgroup"), and the archives of the "new-list" list ("in new-list")." To get more information subsequently submit the following job (substitute "list-number(s)" by the numbers of the lists of interest found in the first job, separated by spaces): // JOB Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Select bicycle in lists index print list-number(s) Select bicycle in intgroup index print list-number(s) Select bicycle in new-list index print list-number(s) /* Send LISTSERV the command INFO DATABASE for more information. LIST SEARCHES ON THE INTERNET ============================= Many sites provide a searchable version of one or more lists of lists via gopher. To find them, connect via gopher to a Veronica-server (usually, you'll get there by choosing something like "Other gopher and information servers" in your main menu) and search for "-t7 list lists" "-t7 mailing lists" and/or "-t7 interest groups". The "-t7" addition assures that you'll get searchable versions only. A search for "list lists" will give you about 20 links, "interest groups" about 30, "mailing lists" more then 100, and "lists" more then 4,000. However, this method has several drawbacks. The most important one is that you can never be sure that the lists are regularly updated. There are sites that provide a version of February 1992! Another is that many of those links point to the ghosts of once existing databases (e.g. to lists.src or mailing-lists.src). The Lund University Library Services (Sweden) provides a searchable WAIS-based version of ACADLIST ("academic_email_conf.src"). There are several ways to access this database: -By means of your own WAIS client -There are more then 60 gophers linked to this database (use Veronica to find one). -Several gopher sites provide a general gateway to WAIS (e.g. the gopherhome in Minnesota). -Telnet to one of the following servers: quake.think.com (login: wais) nnsc.nsf.net (login: wais) swais.cwis.uci.edu (login: swais) sunsite.unc.edu (login: swais) info.funet.fi (login: info) ADDITION (15 May 1993) ======================= The Association of Research Libraries publishes a hardcopy "Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists" (ISSN: 1057-1337)" edited by Diana Kovacs and Michael Strangelove. This directory is derived from network-accessible files. The section on scholarly discussion lists and interest groups is derived from ACADLIST mentioned above. The section on journals and newsletters is derived from Strangelove's "Directory of Electronic Journals and Newsletters". This directory is available from several sources, e.g. from LISTSERV@UOTTAWA.BITNET by sending the commands "get Ejournl1 Directory" and "get Ejournl2 Directory". To order the ARL directory contact Gloria Haws, Publications Manager of the Association of Research Libraries, email: osap@cni.org. The prize of one copy is USD 42 plus postage, shipping and handling charges.