Byte ME 3.30.95 Byte ME Casco Bay Weekly March 30, 1995 Mail vox Paula Stockholm, a USM student, gay activist and self-professed computer junkie, runs an electronic mailing list called Maine GayNet. And the circumstances surrounding the creation of this month-old Internet information service point up both the hazards and the huge potential of instant, global communication. But first, a little background. Mailing lists are fairly low on the Internet food chain ('net-heads prefer the sexier World Wide Web and multi-user dungeons), but incredibly popular and surprisingly effective. They work like this: You subscribe to a mailing list by sending an e-mail request to a remote computer, often at an e-mail address that contains the word "listserv" or "majordomo." The computer adds your name to the list, and - voilà - you become part of an electronic discussion group. Typically, mailing lists are organized by topic - there are lists for people interested in gang warfare, dogs, guitars, political activism, you name it. Once you're on a list, you can pontificate about a topic by sending your musing to the host computer, which in turn routes your message to every other name on the mailing list. If other subscribers find your notion worth replying to, they respond, and everyone on the list receives the reply. Think of it as sitting around a bar having a slow-moving dialogue with folks who share your passions. It just so happens that these people live all over the globe. One advantage of mailing lists is that you don't need a full-blown Internet connection. Any e-mail account will do, whether through a local BBS or a commercial online service like Prodigy. It's a relatively low-tech, low-cost way to cruise the info highway. But there's a downside to all this communication. Without any editing or vetting, bad information can easily find its way onto the 'net. Which is what Stockholm learned recently as a participant in GayNet, a national mailing list that focuses on gay issues. "One day a completely irresponsible post appeared on GayNet, threatening a tourism boycott of Maine until the gay rights issues were settled favorably," she said. Stockholm responded, letting others on the list know that hundreds of Mainers were working to oppose the statewide anti-gay referendum. That seemed enough to disperse the online lynch mob, but Stockholm worried that no online resource existed to provide "real information" about the good work going on in Maine. So she linked up with techies at Occidental College in California (site of the famed online "Queer Resources Directory"), and in February established a Maine GayNet mailing list on Occidental's computer. The list is small, with only 40 or so current subscribers, but "a couple of new requests come in each week," Stockholm says. The messages haven't lit any scorching debates just yet. It's been mostly traffic in mundane info - about upcoming concerts in Portland and fund-raisers on Mount Desert Island. Stockholm says subscribers include college students away from home, some national gay leaders who want to keep track of local happenings and people involved with Maine Won't Discriminate (MWD) and Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance. Stockholm notes that a Japanese man recently signed on the list, and he's already volunteered to help MWD during a vacation here this summer. Joining the Maine GayNet mailing list is easy. Send an e-mail message to majordomo@abacus.oxy.edu. Leave the subject line blank; type the following in the message area: "subscribe me-gaynet". - Wayne Curtis ------------------------ * Casco Bay Weekly's Home Page is (http://w3.maine.com/cbw) * Maine GayNet has a Home Page at http://www.casti.com/QRD/www/usa/maine/gaynet.html ------------------------