Electronic Discussion Peter Suber, Philosophy Department, Earlham College I plan to set up an electronic discussion forum for this course to supplement what we do in class. This will take the form of an email subscription list. Once I have all your names and email addresses, I will subscribe you myself. You'll receive a piece of email from the software that runs the list confirming that you have been subscribed. Once you receive that email, you have been "activated" and can start to post messages.
Frequently Asked Questions Who is this Majordomo guy?
- Majordomo is the name of the software that runs the list. You will get email from Majordomo to confirm that you've been signed up.
How do I send a message to the list?
- First you need to know the name of the email list for this course. For example, the list for my Kant course is called kant. I'll tell you the name of our mailing list in class. You'll also see it on the course home-page and in the sign-up confirmation message you'll receive from Majordomo. I'll use kant in all the examples below.
- To send a message to the list, simply send email to kant or kant@earlham.edu. Your message will be delivered to all the current subscribers to the list.
- Another way to send a message to the list is to "reply" to a message that came from the list.
- Our list is unmoderated, which means that your contributions need not be approved by the list-owner (me) before they are posted. Some lists are moderated in order to exclude spam (commercial email and advertisements), flames (abuse and insult), and other irrelevant postings. If these become a problem for us, let's talk about it. I can moderate the list if need be.
What if I don't want my reply to a message to go to the whole list?
- When you hit "reply" on your email software, the "To:" field will automatically be filled in with kant. Simply edit that field and change it to the person or persons you want to receive your reply.
How can I get off the mailing list?
- To unsubscribe, simply send email to majordomo@earlham.edu (not to kant). Put the following line in the body (not the subject-line) of the message:
unsubscribe kant
You'll also receive unsubscribe instructions in the sign-up confirmation message from Majordomo.- Having said this, I'd like you to remain subscribed to the list during the semester. I consider electronic discussion part of our coursework. If the high volume of messages is troublesome, we can talk about that in class. Once the semester is over, you should feel free to unsubscribe. By then, however, messages from the list should taper off to nearly zero.
- I can automatically unsubscribe everyone in the class at the end of the semester. But I haven't decided whether this is wise. Shouldn't good discussions be allowed to continue indefinitely? If you have thoughts on this question, let me know.
Is participation in electronic discussion mandatory?
- Remaining subscribed to the list during the semester is mandatory. If the syllabus does not make participation in electronic discussion part of the grade, then sending, reading, and replying to messages is optional. However, in some of my courses, electronic discussion is an expectation on a par with class discussion. If the syllabus doesn't make clear which sort of course this is, please just ask.
Why isn't class discussion good enough?
- Class discussion is indispensable. I don't want electronic discusison to replace it but to supplement it. I think we'll find that electronic discussion also deepens class discussion.
- Face-to-face discussion has many clear and important advantages over electronic discussion. But the reverse is true as well. Here are some of the advantages of electronic discussion.
- You have time to compose and revise your contributions and responses. You have time to find the right words, to find the right arguments, to find the right pages in the text. You have time to think. You have time to finish your thought before you are interrupted. You have time to make a long point. You have time to respond to a previous point before, and even after, the discussion veers off in another direction. (Have you ever thought of the perfect reply to a class comment or question 12 hours later?)
- You don't have to wait your turn to contribute or reply.
- You can continue a good discussion for as long as you like. This applies to discussions that start in class as well as those that start on the email list. There's no time limit to frustrate those who still have something to say.
- You can contribute electronically even if the class is a little too large or intimidating for you to speak comfortably.
- You can start your own discussion thread by asking a new question, no matter how many other threads are already going.
- No person or group can monopolize the discussion in such a way that you can't get your contribution in. Quick responses, loud voices, and dismissive faces are no advantage and no barrier.
- You can follow the discussion and make your contribution at 3:00 a.m. if you like. You can ask questions when they occur to you. Nobody has to know you're in your pajamas.
- You can tune in when you have time and tune out when you don't, and still miss nothing.
- You can reread a previous message until you see its point or understand its argument. You can reread a series of messages on the same point. A single "thread" of the discussion may last the whole semester.
- You can save any messages you like. (They are ordinary pieces of email that you can copy, print, forward, archive, and delete.)
- You can follow at least this form of class discussion even if you are sick for a few days and unable to attend class.
If you send me a private email containing a question about the course, I'll assume that others in the class have the same question or could at least benefit from the answer. So unless you instruct me otherwise, I will feel free to delete all signs of your identity and post your question with my answer to the class email list. If the question is less factual and more discussable, then I'll feel free to pass it on to the group to discuss. I'm not promising to deal with all email questions in these ways, just reserving the right to do so. But unless I am utterly swamped, I will try to deal with your questions in these ways.
Are there any ground-rules for electronic discussion?
- Yes, but they're the same as the ground rules for in-class discussion. Preserve civility. Criticize positions and arguments, not people. Stick to the subjects within the scope of our course, broadly construed.
Can my friends participate if they are not enrolled in the course?
- Your friends can send messages to the list the same way you can. See the instructions on contributing to the list above.
- Your friends cannot read the postings to the list without subscribing. But they can subscribe by sending email to majordomo@earlham.edu (not to kant) with the following line in the body (not the subject-line) of the message:
subscribe kant
- I can also sign-up anyone and give them the same list privileges as the members of the class.
- This means that our class discussion list is open to the public. Remember this when deciding how many shortcuts with literacy to take in your postings.
- So the good news is that your friends (parents, philosophers from elsewhere) can participate. The bad news is that spammers, pornographers, and cranks can do so as well. As the list-owner, I can remove anyone from the list who sends spam, flames, or irrelevant messages, and I will not hesitate to do so. I can also close the list to non-subscribers. Finally, I can convert the list from an unmoderated one to a moderated one, although I would only do so as a last resort.
What other commands can I send to Majordomo?
- You've seen the commands above to subscribe to a list and unsubscribe from one. Here are some others. In each case send the command to majordomo@earlham.edu (not to kant) and put the command in the body (not the subject-line) of your email.
- Send the command "who kant" (without the quotation marks) to find out who else is subscribed to the list. The names will appear in the order in which they signed up, not alphabetical order.
- Send the command "info kant" (without the quotation marks) to receive the general introductory information on the list.
- Send the command "help kant" (without the quotation marks) to receive a list of commands and instructions for dealing with Majordomo.
Peter Suber,
Department of Philosophy,
Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, 47374, U.S.A.
peters@earlham.edu. Copyright © 1998-2000, Peter Suber.