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This article was written in the early 2000s.
I regularly write about appraisal business management issues, such as using
email and the Internet
in my paid Appraisal Today monthly newsletter.
$99 per year or $8.25 per month
For more info, go to
http://www.appraisaltoday.com/products.htm
Email mailing lists
For more Internet tips go to the Internet Tips section.
Types of lists
There are two types of lists, discussion lists and one-way lists. In a
discussion list, every e-mail message is sent to everyone on the list. The number of
messages can vary widely - from one per quarter to over 100 per day. In a one-way list,
like my email newsletter, all members only receive my email messages, and can only send
messages to me.
You can sign up for many lists on a Web site. Others require
using a very specific set of commands, using e-mail list management programs such as
Listserv and Majordomo.
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Very
important tips for discussion lists
Rule #1. When you join a club or organization, usually you
wait awhile before speaking up. This is an even more important rule for mailing lists, as
whatever you say is "recorded" for all to see.
Other tips are:
- Check to see if there is an FAQ (frequently asked question)
message for the list, so you don't ask questions that have already been discussed many
times.
- Read and save the instructions for subscribing and
unsubscribing to the list and the "rules" of the list, which many list send to
new members.
- Don't type in all caps. Very tacky and labels you as a
"clueless newbie" probably from AOL.
- Sign your email postings.
- Wait at least 5 minutes before posting a reply. (I wait at
least one hour.) Once the send button is hit, you can't get the email back!
- Don't assume your email will only be read by the list members.
Email gets forwarded all over the Internet.
- For more tips, go to the Netiquette
page on this Web site.
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What's the bad side of mailing
lists?
- I subscribe to over 10 mailing lists. Some only send messages
once every 2 or 3 months, and one sends 10 to 50 messages a day.
- Discussion mailing lists can generate more messages than you
want to read, or have time to read.
- Subscribing and unsubscribing can be a problem. The lists are
free, run by volunteers or as a free service by a business. Sometimes you have to try
several times to get on or off the list, particularly if you don't send the correct
commands to the mailing list software.
- If you belong to one or more very chatty discussion lists, and
don't log on for one or two weeks, you can run out of email storage space on your ISPs
server, or have hundreds of emails to wade through.
- Many discussion mailing lists change over time. They are very
active when first set up, then can slow down to only a few messages a day (or week).
- Some lists "flame" a lot. In other words, derogatory
messages are posted in reply to a posting.
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Real
estate one-way mailing lists
- PikeNet Dispatch. Peter Pike's weekly email on commercial real
estate Web sites and other Internet news. To join, go to www.pikenet.com
.
- Inman News Headlines. Brad Inman's periodic (sometimes daily,
sometimes less frequent) list of news story headlines on his Web site. Inman's news keeps
getting better and better. Mostly residential, but some good commercial news. To join, go
to www.inman.com .
- Allregs Email Summaries. Brief description of new guidelines
from Fannie, Freddie, VA, FHA, etc. Sent out by Mortgage Resource Center, which publishes
Allregs. Usually once or twice a week. To subscribe, go to www.allregs.com.
- The DIRT list - an Internet legal discussion
group for real estate
professionals, with a daily summary plus other stuff posted on the Web
page. What kinds of topics? Appraiser liability, eminent domain, takings,
and electromagnetism. Managed by Patrick Randolph, a law professor at the
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Thanks to Michael
Cartwright for posting some of the more interesting stuff on the AI forum!
Go to http://cctr.umkc.edu/dept/dirt/
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Computer/Internet
one-way mailing lists
- The Scout Report. Weekly descriptions of Web sites and mailing
lists of general interest. A public service by InterNIC by the University of
Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Computer Science. Go to www.internic.net/scout/report .
- Cnet Digital Dispatch. Weekly email by Cnet. Brief description
of what's new on Cnet's many Web sites: browsers.com, gamecenter.com, cnet.tv,
download.com. To subscribe, go to: www.cnet.com/Community/Welcome/Dispatch/?dd
- CNet News dispatcher. Daily computer industry news briefs from
Cnet's www.news.com with URLs to the full story. To subscribe, send email to:
listserv@dispatch.cnet.com with the following in the message body: subscribe news-dispatch
Your Name (Note: The name must have two words.) Or, use the sign up at www.cnet.com.
- Team Anchordesk. Daily computer industry news by Ziff Davis.
Brief descriptions of news plus URLs. To subscribe go to:
http://www.anchordesk.com/whoiswe/subscribe.html
Business mailing
lists
- Sign up for the National Federation of Independent Business
daily e-mail newsletter at www.nfibonline.com,
with links to their useful micro-business "workshops" on topics such as avoiding
burnout and surge suppressors.
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