BKINTMLS.RVW 940217 Prentice Hall 113 Sylvan Avenue Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 (515) 284-6751 FAX (515) 284-2607 or 11711 N. College Ave. Carmel, IN 46032-9903 or 201 W. 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290 or 15 Columbus Circle New York, NY 10023 800-428-5331 or Market Cross House Cooper Street Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1EB England phyllis@prenhall.com - Phyllis Eve Bregman is postmaster 70621.2737@CompuServe.COM Alan Apt Beth Mullen-Hespe beth_hespe@prenhall.com "Internet: Mailing Lists", Hardie/Neou, 1994, 0-13-289661-3 nisc@nisc.sri.com "What are you writing?" "Another book review ... " "Figures. What's it on?" "The Internet." "Now, there's a surprise! I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from *not* being ..." "That's getting old." "Hummph. So this is another Internet guide?" "Nope. It's about mailing lists or distribution lists." "Like in junk mail? 'You may already be a winner' type of thing?" "Well, if it's an unmoderated list, junk mail comes close. Basically these are mail programs assigned to a certain topic. Everyone who is interested in a topic can join a list. When they send a message to the list, it goes out to everyone who is signed up. And everyone signed up gets a copy of all mail sent to the list. However, since it is on the Internet, rather than done through the postal system, it can run fast enough to seem almost like a conversation." "So these guys explain all about it?" "Well, not in a lot of detail. They give a brief idea of the concept, and the different programs like requesters, BITNET LISTSERVs, mail servers and MAILBASE. They even mention Usenet, which does the same type of thing in a different way, even though it isn't really covered. They don't give a lot of detail, but you can always get help from these systems, anyway. One of the big irritations in mailing lists is people who send administrative messages, like when they want to join or quit, to the list itself, rather than the controlling program. They don't belabour the fact, but they do mention it. Twice." "So this is a short book?" "Almost 600 pages." "?" "Most of the book is a listing of a number of mailing lists. You can get similar lists on the net, but this includes lists from a number of sources, as well as more detail than you might get from a simple listing. They also have probably done some editing to get rid of some deadwood. More than deadwood, actually. NETTRAIN doesn't make it." "So you could get all this free? Why buy the book?" "Oh, you could get all the info, and more up to date stuff as well. But you'd have to grab yourself three or four huge files. Even then, you wouldn't have all the info that is listed here. You'd also have to check it out different ways, search all the synonyms for what you want, and that sort of thing. If you are just a hobby user, maybe you don't want this, but if you are serious about the Internet, then you probably do. If you are acting as an Internet resource or trainer you *definitely* want this book." "Good index, then?" "Not perfect. If you want to find the DOROTHYL mystery writing list, it isn't listed under mystery, writing, fiction, or even Sayers. BEN, which deals with botany and ecology of the Pacific coast isn't listed under either botany or ecology. The index could certainly use some work, but it's a start." "Hmmm. Sounds interesting. Can I borrow it?" "No." copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKINTMLS.RVW 940217