Listservs
An electronic mailing list, or listserv, is an interactive means of communication between a subscriber and the group for information sharing, problem solving, troubleshooting, and brainstorming. The name "listserv" comes from an original software program called "ListServ" which managed these electronic mailing lists. As with newsgroups, many listservs focus on specific topics. Multiple listservs are available for almost any topic. Joining a list is called subscribing, and like news groups, subscriptions are free. After a user has subscribed to a group, copies of any message posted to the group are sent to all members' mailboxes. Some listservs produce many emails in the timeframe of a day or a week, so users should be mindful of this and may want to participate (or not) depending on the volume of traffic for a particular list. Subscribing to lists and unsubscribing from lists is usually a straightforward process.