Mail groups, apopular way to keep in touch with others

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

So you have already created a mail group in Yahoo! Groups. You have invited your family members and close relatives and added their e-mail addresses to your group list. You have even started sending e-mails to everybody on the list without having to type in their individual addresses or check their accuracy.

Mail groups have become increasingly popular, as more people know how to use them. In the past three months alone, I have become a member of five different mail groups. Someone at IBM Indonesia's Software Division even uses this free facility to distribute mailed news on the latest of Big Blue's software.

Another mail group that I have been invited to is IDC Indonesia, manned by my friend Junaidi Aris Lee. Junaidi uses the push approach to keep me informed of his company's research findings.

A fellow contributor in Solo, Central Java, also created a mail group for all The JP's contributors, and this is one of my favorites. Not only does this particular one allow me to get to know other contributors and freelance reporters from everywhere in the country, it also allows me to find people who are free to tackle some jobs that have come my way when I already have too much on my plate. For instance, when someone asked me to translate some reading materials in the area of marketing strategies, which was not my forte, I just offered it to the group and it immediately had a taker.

Needless to say, I receive even more e-mail messages every day because of my memberships in these groups, but I do not mind as they are all useful in their own way. I just have to make sure that my PC is always on and that it regularly downloads e-mail messages from CBN's mail server so there will be no congestion.

What else can we do besides exchanging news among group members? Well, as it is more than just a mailing list, showing everyone the photos of your group's last reunion gathering is also easier with Yahoo! Groups. Keep in mind that members can access the group Web site and look around inside it. So, all we need to do is create a photo album for each event, and then upload the scanned photos into it. Our job will be much easier if we are already using a digital camera, of course.

How do we create a photo album? It is even easier than setting up the group itself. All we need to do is sign in and then click on 'Photos' on the left side of the screen. Yahoo! Groups will then guide us step by step as we create a new album and fill it with photos.

There are some paid services offered here, although we are not obliged to use them. Should we want to have the photos printed, there is a button that we can click to order prints. The photos will be printed by Shutterfly. The good thing is that Yahoo! Groups will tell you right away if the results are of poor quality due to an incorrect file format or other reasons.

The best way to store photos of course is to use the TIFF format. There is a problem with this unfortunately, as Yahoo! Groups limits (understandably) the storage capacity for each album to just 30 MB.

I like the 'Upload Tools', too, as they enable us to do a couple of things such as viewing the thumbnail previews and rotating the image left or right.

Those who believe pounding on their keyboards is an exciting way of communicating can also use the chat room facility that is available inside a group. If your computer has multimedia capability and is properly set up, Yahoo! Groups also allows you to use your voice instead.

Did you find some useful Web sites lately that you want to tell other members about? You can create a list of bookmarks that others can click on from inside the group's site. Do you want to share your databases of CDs, phone numbers and addresses, tips in the form of a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) and recipes? If so, you can use the group's 'Database' facility. Want to share files to be collaborated on, create a joint calendar or even conduct a poll? The facilities for this are available too.

Now, what about virus and worm prevention? As most viruses and worms are transmitted through attachments, it is perhaps a good idea to set the group parameters so that they do not accept any e-mail attachments. Go to 'Settings', and then edit the posting section. Choose the 'Discard attachment' option.