Promotional Skills for The Chronically Amateur

(How to Get Your Message to the American Sheeple)

Part 15: Using Other People's Discussion Lists
by Shonda Ponder

© 2002, Shonda Ponder

As your message begins to make it's rounds, and more people begin to patronize your work, you will, no doubt, be barraged with many invitations to join other people's organizations and efforts. At first you will find this as a source of excitement -- knowing that your message has reached so many people. But as your organization grows, this may become overwhelming, and if you don't take steps to control it early, you will likely find yourself buried in a heap of ... emails.

We discussed earlier about designating email boxes for different tasks in your organization. One such email box should be a sizeable box dedicated to list management. Lists, that is, that belong to other people.

It is never a good idea to turn down invitations to join discussion lists. But, before accepting invitations, you should check the 3rd party list manager that they are working on and see if there is anyway you can turn their list to "Read it on the web only" and still be subscribed to the list so that you are able to make posts to that list when and if you so desire.

Before posting on any discussion list, you will need to set your signature up so that it has a link to the web site where your information is located. This way, every email you send will be an invitation for others to check out your message.

Also, make sure that when you post to other people's email lists, you follow the subject matter at hand, and only post your message if it is in line with what the theme of the list is about.

Be very careful about replying to flames and insults. When someone insults you, or your message, it is sometimes wiser to push the delete button than to acknowledge ignorance. The same rules for replying to private emails should be used in discussion lists and chat rooms. If someone wants to debate your point of view, feel free to set up a separate list and invite people to join to continue the debate, without causing the list owner to have to step in and moderate the discussion in order to keep the peace.

The more polite you are, and the less work you give the moderator, the more likely you are to be invited to join other lists.

Do not post someone's information to another list you are on without their consent.

Be cautious in posting replies to what looks like personal requests for information or inquiries about your organization on a public discussion forum. Some people are not net-savvy and do not understand that when they reply to a certain address it is distributed to everyone on the list. How such people get on these lists is a mystery, but it does happen -- often.

Never respond to any discussion messages unless you have something to say. One liners often do nothing but cause an overload of messages for those who choose not to have the messages sent in digest form. Try to write at least one or two paragraphs in any response. This will serve to show those on the list that you have some knowledge of what you are discussing, and will also cause those who agree with you to check your own work out more often.

And, last but not least, do not post any information from another website on a public discussion forum without including the URL (or web address) that tells the reader of your message where you got that information. It is rude to do otherwise. Anytime you use information in anyway, the author and their URL, or, at the very least, their email address should always be included.

If you ever decide you wish to unsubscribe, please attempt to do it without fanfare. In other words, check to see if there is a way you can unsubscribe yourself, first. If this is unsuccessful, privately send a message to the list owner. Never post your request publicly unless it is as a last resort.

These same rules apply to messageboards and community clubs. This is Part 15 of "Promotional Skills for the Chronically Amateur"