Mail groups, apopular way to keep in touch with others

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.