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Electronic newsletters and mailing lists deliver information on topics of your choice right to your computer. Best of all, subscribing is free! NEWSLETTERS Many Web sites offer newsletters to their visitors. These newsletters act as summaries of, or supplements to, their site. Other times they'll have totally different topics. Think of it as receiving a paper newsletter, only in electronic form. Newsletters are typically "delivered" weekly or monthly. Electronic newsletters offer readers links to jump right to the topics that interest them, and back to the host Web site. To receive a newsletter you will have to provide your e-mail address, or fill out a form. MAILING LISTS Like newsletters, you receive mailing lists via e-mail, but unlike newsletters, mailing lists are compilations of the contributions of their subscribers. In other words, you can add to a mailing list. Subscribe to a mailing list that interests you. You can choose to get information on the weather in Wichita, the news from Nantucket, or computer updates to download. There's a huge list of lists. But don't overload yourself ...you could be bombarded with too much before you know it. You can also unsubscribe. Be sure to save the original "Welcome!" message they send you. It will tell you how to part ways. You can opt to receive a digest. It will be several days' worth of the list, with a table of contents. FINDING NEWSLETTERS AND MAILING LISTS You can do your own search, or look for newsletters and mailing list offers on Web sites. Some sites compile lists of newsletters for your review. Several Web sites "list lists." Sometimes, the best way to find mailing lists is by word of mouth, so ask your friends what they find fun and useful. (Check out the XXX Oprah Goes Online message boards XXX for recommendations.) ADD YOUR OWN TWO CENTS! Reading the information on a list is easy. Actually, it's a good idea to read the messages for awhile before mailing in your own; you'll get a sense of the tone and what's been covered. Respond by writing a message and sending it back to the list address, which will be the same as the name of the list itself. (Now be sure you're writing to the mailing list address, not the administrative address). You can choose to respond to only one person on the list or the whole list. It depends on what you enter after "Reply To:" Remember that anybody anywhere could be reading what you have to say. (See the Web Savvy lesson.) print this lesson | back to lesson main page Subscribe to the Oprah Goes Online newsletter.