Ever found yourself part of a discussion group you never asked to join?
I’m not talking about for profit marketing. I’m talking about an organization with a membership and good intentions. They dump their list into a mailing group.
The daily digest ends up looking like this…
Group: http://groups.google.com/group/xxxxxx/topics
a note to everyone sending “remove me ” to this list [6 Updates]
REMOVE ME [4 Updates]
Inventory of xxx groups [8 Updates]
To remove yourself [4 Updates]
Remove Me [1 Update]
Topic: a note to everyone sending “remove me ” to this list
Jan 07 04:59PM -0600 ^
Please remove me from the list. I was unable to do so via Google Groups as I don’t have an account.
a note to everyone sending “remove me ” to this list [6 Updates]
REMOVE ME [4 Updates]
Inventory of xxx groups [8 Updates]
To remove yourself [4 Updates]
Remove Me [1 Update]
Topic: a note to everyone sending “remove me ” to this list
Jan 07 04:59PM -0600 ^
Please remove me from the list. I was unable to do so via Google Groups as I don’t have an account.
Listserv is 25 years old and there’s no reason to keep re-learning this lesson. Notify your list that you’ve created a group. Tell them why they should be interested. Tell them who else is part of the group. Invite them to join.
People might want to participate in a conversation but they don’t want confused, antagonized strangers blundering into in their living room.