E-mail discussion forums or "lists" make it possible to communicate easily with other people who share your interests. You do this by joining or "subscribing" to an e-mail list. To join, you send a subscription request via e-mail to the list's administrative address. Once you join, whenever anyone sends a message to the list, you'll automatically receive a copy. And if you send a message to the list or reply to a message you get from the list, usually your message will be sent to everyone else on the mailing list as well. It's a wonderful way to exchange information quickly with lots of other people who share your interests.
There are now many thousands of lists on topics ranging from Accounting to Zoology. Some lists cater to people in a particular city or region or who belong to a specific organization; others welcome members from all over the world.
To find women-related e-mail lists on a wide variety of topics, take a look at CWIT's Gender-Related Electronic Forums listing. It describes more than 600 lists and provides instructions for joining. It also provides links to additional e-mail list information. If you're very new to e-mail lists and would like some more basic information, try Walt Howe's E-mail Discussion List Questions and/or IFLANET's Internet Mailing Lists Guides and Resources.
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