Discussion List Tips: Web Reading and Feeds

One way to cut e-mail overload: Here's what it looks like when you read a discussion list on the web, rather than by e-mail. (Click to enlarge)

For more than a decade, e-mail discussion lists have been a mainstay of conversational media -- and I think they're likely to continue to remain popular. E-mail is approachable even to total online newbies.

However, since everyone is on e-mail overload, discussion lists end up presenting a problem: clutter. Sure, you can cut down on list clutter via daily digest postings -- but if it's a busy list, scrolling through a digest posting gets to be tedious.

Since I am constantly overwhelmed by e-mail, I find that feeds or web-based reading can be better ways to participate. Of course, these options aren't available from every list service.

If you value the online discussions you've joined but can't handle the e-mail, here's some advice...

LOOK FOR FEED OR WEB-READING OPTIONS

Check out the list's web site -- usually there's a link in the footer of list messages, or in the list instructions you probably received when you first joined. If you can't find that, e-mail the list administrator or moderator to ask. As a last resort, you can post a query to the list (although that tends to annoy other subscribers, so be prepared for that).

If there is a way to read that list on the web, then bookmark the reading page so you can find it easily whenever you have time to read it.

Next, change your membership settings to "no mail" or "web only." The image at left shows what that looks like on a Yahoo Group. (Click to enlarge)

With this option selected, you'll still be a member of the list, you just won't get e-mail messages. You'll have to go to the site to see what's new. However, you should still be able to post directly to the list via e-mail.

Again, the advantage of this approach is that you can still follow and participate in list discussions without drowning in e-mail messages. The drawback is that you have to remember to log in periodically to see what's new -- it won't come directly to you.

SUBSCRIBING TO LIST FEEDS

If it's important for you to keep up with list discussions as they occur, or to read the list offline, then you'll probably want to subscribe to a feed for the list. Currently this option is a bit less widely available than web-based reading, but it's worth looking for.

If your list offers a feed, you can subscribe to it in your feed reader. Then, as new messages are posted to the list, your feed reader will update with those postings as often as you've set it to check that feed.

This is how I currently read the LinkedIn Bloggers list. (Click the thumbnail image at left to see what that looks like in my feed reader.) Typically, when you click on a list item it either displays the full text in your feed reader, or opens it in your web browser so you can read it online. You can post (or reply to posts) either by the web or by e-mail.

The key advantages of this strategy are reduced e-mail clutter, as well as timeliness. The disadvantage is that you must keep your feed reader running and remember to glance at it, just like you check your e-mail periodically. Also, most feed readers won't display list postings as threaded discussions -- so it looks more like receiving individual e-mail messages (which can be confusing).

ADVICE FOR BRAND NEW GROUPS

If you're starting a new discussion group, here's how to make it friendlier to people on e-mail overload:

Don't limit participation to e-mail! Choose a service that offers web-based reading, postings, and threaded archives -- as well as feeds.

• Google Groups (a free service) offers all of these for both public and private forums/lists. Granted, its feeds are not secured in any way (such as via password protection), so probably anyone could subscribe to a private Google Group feed. The issue for that would be finding the feed URL if you're not already part of that group.

   

• In contrast, Yahoo Groups only offers feeds for public forums/lists. Their help page says: "Since RSS is used as a way to read/aggregate public content on the web, this feature is only available for groups with messages set to public (no membership required)." That's more secure than a private Google Group's feed, but it's a huge tradeoff. I belong to one excellent private Yahoo Group (for Boulder Media Women), but I rarely read that list because the posting volume is so high and it doesn't offer a feed.

Inform and educate participants about these options. Chances are, many of your subscribers won't know that they can read/post via the web or by feed. Feel free to link to this posting as an educational tool.

IF THERE'S NO OTHER OPTION BESIDES E-MAIL...

Some older list services don't offer good (or any) features for participating through the web or via feed. That's the case for a couple of private lists I've been on for years. Those communities are important to me, and their systems aren't likely to change anytime soon.

For those lists, I've set up a special mail filter to handle incoming postings. Those postings don't show up in my regular in-box. Rather, they go straight to a separate folder and immediately get marked as "read." That way they don't mess up how I process my more pressing regular e-mail.

Most mail software and services allow this kind of filtering. If yours doesn't, it's possible to set up a separate web-based e-mail account that you use for list subscriptions. This has a drawback: you have to remember to check it.

What are your favorite tips for managing discussion list messages? Please comment below.

 

Comments

[SteveSgt]

The mail filter solution you mention at the end has always been my preferred method. With good filters and mailbox organization, I've never felt drowned in e-mail, even when I do download over 300 messages a day (after SPAM)

I subscribe to over 50 mailing lists -- some do come from groups that could be read on the web, but I would find that far more tedious than to simply open a separate mailbox. I can even create a separate rule to age-off old messages in a list, or to archive them in yet another folder if it's a list that doesn't maintain it's own archives.

I find having to load a web page and surf for items in one of those forum applications to be tedious and annoying. I can't even catch-up these lists when I'm on a plane or a train -- a task that's no problem in an e-mail client!

RSS reader programs are the next best thing, I suppose, but none of them I've seen let you reply in-place like you can in a local e-mail client. And worse, many RSS feeds only contain teaser content, not the entire post, so then you're back to opening up a browser and loading all the superfluous page design to get to the (potentially) interesting text.

So I'll stick with e-mail lists myself. Knowing how to actually use all of the features of my e-mail client program is the best solution for me.

[Amy Gahran]

Steve -- for some people, yes, mail filters can do a great job of managing discussions.

For me personally, they end up being more of a hassle than feeds or web reading. So I only use mail filters as a last resort.

It's all a matter of what your personal preferences are. I'm glad there are options besides trying to manage it all via e-mail. A lot of people who subscribe to e-mail lists don't even know these other options exist.

Re: responding: When I read a list posting in my feed reader (NewsFire), if I want to respond I click on the headline and it brings up that posting in my web browser -- where I can respond via the web interface, which I find no more bothersome than creating an e-mail. Of course, I tend to read lists more than respond to them. I suppose if I were making 10+ responses a day on a particular list I might prefer to handle that list via an e-mail filter. But that's just me.

- Amy Gahran

[Beth]

Amy,

This is an excellent article! I just discovered that bloglines - my RSS reader, lets you set up email addresses and subscribe to listservs. I've been using RSS to read listservs over on google groups, if possible, but I found that it would come through without seeing the author and have to click through to the subject line. The feature in bloglines looks like it solves all that.

I'm the queen of filters and despite doing that -- I'm getting so damn annoyed with email to read or even to do work. I'm also trying to get people to work on wikis - so we aren't collaborative writing one email message at a time.

http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/01/rss_as_informat.html

[Mary]

Thanks for giving the feed mess some context. It even makes sense to my little newbie brain.