List Types - Guide to L-Soft LISTSERV List Owners

SIGCHI List Types

There are two dimensions of SIGCHI list types:

Mailing Lists vs. Aliases
Audiences / Users

Mailing Lists vs. Aliases

LISTSERV supports mailing lists with anywhere from 0 to thousands of subscribers. Although LISTSERV does not support mail aliases directly, having a list with one subscriber works very much like an alias, with the benefit that the list owner(s) can change who is on the list, or increase the number of subscribers so that more than one person can handle requests. So, using lists as aliases provides flexibility. (By the way, it DOES sometimes make sense to have a list with 0 subscribers; a list can be a file archive from which people can get files).

Options with Mailing Lists vs. Aliases

Options for lists as aliases are somewhat different than mailing lists.

	Mailing Lists	Aliases
Subscription=	OPEN,CONFIRM Subscriptions to mailing lists are, by SIGCHI EC policy, open. During the period of the move from Xerox to ACM, the lists were assigned OPEN subscriptions with no checking so that the transition would not cause a series of messages to existing subscribers, but the CONFIRM open should be added so that the email address of new subscribers are checked.	CLOSED Aliases are controlled by a list owner, so subscription requests should just be bounced. Most list management for aliases can be done with the ADD/DELETE commands, often with the QUIET option.
Send=	PUBLIC SIGCHI lists are all open for public posting; neither SIGCHI nor list membership are required.	PUBLIC The main reason to have an alias is so that a permanent email address can be published for roles such as a membership chair, webmaster, etc., and so that anyone can send to them. Although the personnel might change, the alias ensures that the right person(s) get mail, and it makes printed documentation, which is hard to update, of more lasting value.
Review=	PUBLIC By SIGCHI EC policy, the subscribers of lists can be reviewed. Individual users can, at their initiative, set the CONCEAL option for their subscription.	PUBLIC It is a nice feature that anyone can see who is currently receiving mail sent to an alias.
Validate=	Listserv offers a variety of subscription validation options, however it is unclear how much they add to the Subscription= OPEN,CONFIRM. In general, however, forgery is an issue that will have to be addressed.	Validation is not relevant to closed lists because only list owners can make changes.
Notify=	Few list owners would want to be made aware of the comings and goings of subscribers.	Owners of aliases might want to be notified of changes to the lists if only because the lists should only be changed by list owners.
Editor= Moderator=	The only open list that might become edited/moderated (for which postings would have to be approved by an editor or one of a list of moderators) is chi-announcements, which currently does not have a well-defined posting policy.

Audiences / Users

There are many audiences / users of SIGCHI lists, and each of these have different needs satisfied by different sets of options.

Open Discussion/Distribution Lists (e.g., Educators, Announcements)
Options for SIGCHI open lists are discussed above.
SIGCHI Committee Mailing Lists (e.g., EC, Bulletin-Editor)
Options for SIGCHI mailing lists are discussed above.
Local SIGCHI Chapters
The idea behind aliases for local SIGCHI chapters is for SIGCHI to maintain a published alias to contact the current contact-person at each local chapter (chartered or forming). Chartered chapters can also, if they like, have their own lists on the ACM listserv for such purposes as: Officers, Members, Announcements, Information, ... Having SIGCHI-maintained aliases allows SIGCHI to provide a contact regardless of the status of a charter.
Publications (editors and editorial boards)
For each of several SIGCHI publications, there are mailing lists mainly for use by the editors of those publications. After some discussion, there was no clear opinion about the names or options for those lists, so some clear consistent convention has to be chosen by the list owner (eventually, no one will care much about the choice).
Conferences
Before 1997, a few aliases were created for CHI conferences at ACM and at Xerox. CHI'97 created about 60 listserv lists, which suggests that there be a separate effort for conferences, beyond what is covered here.