Susan,

Setting up a new list is analagous to making sausage--it isn't pretty to look at. I've been on several lists that started based on membership in this or that academic setting, and it usually just took patience and suggestions as things occurred so the list could be tweaked. One that now runs pretty smoothly is set up specifically for subscribers to an academic journal. The journal is quarterly and these folks sometimes don't see each other for several years between conferences. They were all patient with the process, which now has the setup that messages are posted immediately upon being sent, unless you are subscribed via a digest (something they added because it was requested). A digest comes out usually once a day or when a certain volume of messages (200K, for example) is reached.

Another very useful feature of this and several other lists is an archive. Listserv and Listproc and Majordomo software all can set up quite good archives, if someone in the techie end is patient enough to do it. I like it set week by week, but montly is also pretty good, if a bit drawn out at times. Many of them are searchable by thread, author, or date. This means you can dump email after you read it unless it's a real keeper, because you can (in theory) visit the archive and find all of it later.

Moderated lists are good for keeping to the topic or keeping the volume down, but there is a fair amount of resentment toward the moderator who must choose what to post and what to delete.

I run a couple of lists, but they're not meant for discussion, they're really a one-way messaging service. I post a list of new databases in the university library, or information about programs or classes, etc. Every so often a subscriber will write with a question, which I receive, and can answer, or forward, but the whole list doesn't see it unless I send it back. And sometimes advertisers will subscribe to lists to try to push their products, so I just delete those, and often send a boilerplate response about the nature of the list.

PM me off list if you have specific questions. I wish I could send you to read the early archives of the first list I discussed--you could have read through the messages that sorted out the inner workings of the list--except that they weren't keeping an archive yet. That was one of my suggestions. . .

SRS