The O.D. Institute Roundtable

Roundtable Overview | New to Mailing Lists? | How to Use the Roundtable

Overview: The O.D. Institute Roundtable is a mailing list for members and friends of the O.D. Institute, and is provided as a forum for discussion of O.D.-related. This service is being generously donated by Lazarus Consulting, which is not otherwise affiliated with the O.D. Institute. Lazarus Consulting does not currently maintain an archive of this list, or any other web page representation of it.

New to Mailing Lists? If belonging to a mailing list is a new concept for you, here is a brief explanation. A mailing list is basically a list of people who've signed up (subscribed) to the list, which is maintained behind the scenes. When you are a subscriber, you receive any messages that any other subscriber sends to the list, and you can send your own for everyone else to read. Only subscribers get the messages, and only subscribers can send a message.

To send a message to the list, you just send your message to a special email address. Automated software at that address automatically forwards any messages it gets to all the other people on the list. There is more detail on this below. Your primary interaction with the list will be

subscribing to the list,
reading the messages from others on the list
sending your own messages to the list
unsubscribing from the list.

Reading the messages is the simple part, they just come into your mailbox like any other message. The other actions are done by sending a message to a specific address, sometimes with specific words in it. More detail on each command may be found below.

A word on etiquette: You probably already know that email is a very different kind of interaction than face-to-face. Because you are not looking at the other person, or even listening to a voice, it is easy to misinterpret the tone of a message you are reading, or to use a different tone with your own message than you otherwise might. There are also some other considerations you might not have thought of. Here are a few guidelines:

Reread what you've written before you send it. Ask yourself how someone reading your message might interpret it. Reword it if you think it necessary. Also check the spelling, either by eye or using your email program's spell checker, if it has one.

If you're tempted to reply in kind to a negative (or perceived negative) message from someone else, wait a while before doing so. If you must reply, consider sending it only to the individual, not to the entire list. On-going negative conversations (sometimes called "flame wars" on the internet) are not looked upon kindly by other readers, or the list administrators, and may also diminish you in their eyes.

If you are not sure if the emotional content of your words are being conveyed, consider including "emoticons". These are little "faces" you can type with regular keyboard characters to convey simple emotions like "I'm joking" or "I'm sorry". The two most commonly used are :-) and :-( respectively. [If you can't see the faces, turn your head sideways to the left.] There is also ;-) (winking) and :-D (laughing). There are a great many more listed all over the Internet, they even have their own Yahoo! category. It sounds nerdy (and maybe it is), but it actually does help!

You may have set up a "signature" file for your email, which is a bit of text that is always appended to the end of each message you send out. It is generally considered mildly inconsiderate to have a signature file more than 4 lines long. If yours is longer than this, consider turning it off or shortening it.

How to Use the Roundtable

How to subscribe

How to unsubscribe

How to send a message to the list

How to see what else the list software can do

How to make a complaint or comment to the list administrator

In general:

To send a command to the list (such as subscribe or unsubscribe), send email to the address imailsrv@lazarusconsulting.com. The "Subject:" field is left blank, and the command is typed in the body of the message. See below for specific commands you can use.

To send a message around to the list, send email to the address odlist@lazarusconsulting.com. It will automatically be forwarded to all other subscribers in a few minutes. Note that you need to be subscribed to the list in order for this to work. Messages from non-subscribers are ignored.

Specific Commands:

How to subscribe	To subscribe, send a message addressed to imailsrv@lazarusconsulting.com. In the body of the message, type the phrase: `subscribe ODlist Your Name` where Your Name is your name. For example, the author of this page would write "subscribe ODList John Brooking". You should receive an email message confirming your successful subscription within a couple of minutes. If you do not receive confirmation promptly, contact webmaster@lazarusconsulting.com.
How to unsubscribe	To unsubscribe, send a message addressed to imailsrv@lazarusconsulting.com. In the body of the message, type the phrase: `unsubscribe ODlist`
Turn "digest mode" on or off	The O.D. Roundtable list features a "digest mode" option. If you don't set this, you will simply receive each message as it is sent out from the list. If this is fine with you, you don't need to do anything. With the "digest mode" turned on, however, it works a little differently. Instead of receiving each message as it is sent, you will receive all the messages just once a day with a summary of each one. Some people find this less intrusive than getting individual messages throughout the day, if the list is generating a high volume of messages. To turn digest mode on, send a message addressed to imailsrv@lazarusconsulting.com. In the body of the message, type the phrase: `set mode digest ODlist` To turn digest mode off, send a message addressed to imailsrv@lazarusconsulting.com. In the body of the message, type the phrase: `set mode standard ODlist`
For more information	To find out what other commands the list will accept, send a message addressed to imailsrv@lazarusconsulting.com. In the body of the message, type the phrase: `help ODlist` You will then receive a reply with the details for each command the mailing list address will accept.
If you are having problems	If you are having problems with any of these commands, or you think there may be a problem with the mailing list, please send your question or comment to webmaster@lazarusconsulting.com.

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