Mailing lists/Introduction

OLPC draws heavily from the principles of open source software, including building and sharing a base of common knowledge. OLPC uses public mailing lists as a primary method of communication for these reasons.

A mailing list is a service that forms an email-based communication channel between a number of subscribers. Mailing lists are usually set up as follows:

• Subscription is open to anyone; just provide your email address in a simple form.
• Writing to the mailing list is open to all subscribers; just send an email to the mailing list address. Your email will then be automatically and individually sent to all subscribers.
• Reading is also open to non-subscribers through public mailing list archives on a website.

OLPC operates a large number of mailing lists, documented on the Mailing lists page. Each mailing list has a designated topic. Some are used for general discussion, others for various forms of support, and others for critical operational tasks such as software development.

Obtaining support and asking questions on mailing lists is generally preferred to private emails, even if you know a good candidate to answer your message. This is because both your questions and any responses will be public, adding to common knowledge. Other people with similar questions will be able to find the new information in the public list archives, avoiding the need for the question to be asked again, and avoiding someone spending the time to provide the same response again.

Subscribing

First, locate the list information page for the mailing list you want to subscribe to. You can find these pages by following appropriate links on the Mailing lists page or http://lists.laptop.org. For example, the information page for the OLPC-open list can be found at http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/OLPC-open

The list information page includes a subscription form. Enter your email address, (optionally) your name, and (optionally) a password. If you do choose to enter a password, carefully read the warnings: do not use a sensitive password because it will be emailed to you without any form of protection/obfuscation. If you do not choose a password, one will be generated for you and emailed to you.

After submitting the form, you will be sent an email that asks you to confirm your subscription request by clicking a link. Click the link, and that's it, you're subscribed!

Writing

Now that you are subscribed to the mailing list, you can start new discussions or respond to existing ones. To do so, you just use your email client to write to the mailing list address.

The mailing list address is stated clearly on the list information page for the list in question. For example, the olpc-open information page says:

Using Olpc-open

To post a message to all the list members, send email to olpc-open@lists.laptop.org

Before writing to the mailing list:

• Read the etiquette section below
• Perform a quick google search to confirm that there is no obvious answer to your question
• Take a quick glance at the archives (detailed below) to ensure that nobody has asked your question recently

Etiqette

While OLPC does not publish formal mailing list etiquette, these guidelines will help you get responses to your questions and avoid making enemies:

• If starting a new discussion, carefully choose a succinct and informative subject line. For example, "Help" is uninformative; most people writing to the list are looking for help, what do you need help with? "Error opening PDF files with Read activity" is good.
• Ensure that your messages are on-topic.
• When replying, use Reply-to-all so that your response is separately delivered to the mailing list, as well as the people you are responding to.
• Don't top post.
• Configure your email client to send plain-text (not HTML) messages, which linewrap at 78 characters.
• Don't spam or advertise.
• Avoid personal attacks at all times.