I miss mailing lists. I’m not talking about the broadcast-only sort of mailing lists popularized by MailChimp, Constant Contact, Substack, or Buttondown. I’m talking about email discussion groups. If you’re older than I you might remember them as listservs. They allowed people to socialize and indulge in USENET-like discussions over email.
They were like social media, but better:
- you had full ownership over your identity and data
- you could keep your own archive of posts from the date and time you joined
- your contacts weren’t tied to the mailing list
Besides, those sort of old-fashioned mailing lists were where I met my wife of almost 20 years back in 2000.
I’m not in the market for a new wife, and Friendica has been a congenial way to access the Fediverse, but I’d still prefer to socialize over email, the way a lot of us used to back in the day. I’d like to cultivate a circle of correspondents, if I can still manage it.
To that end I’ve decided to create a mailing list of my own on sourcehut. While I’ll have to moderate the group I’m hosting, I want to try to keep the rules simple.
- Send plain text email. (Sourcehut rejects HTML email.)
- No top-posting, please. Instead, quote relevant passages with your reply below.
- Don’t be rude to or pick fights with other people using this discussion group.
- neo-Nazis, fascists, white supremacists, TERFs, and other reactionaries and authoritarians will never be welcome.
If you’re amenable to these rules, I’d be pleased if you chose to join the group. In addition to hosting discussions, all new blog posts beginning with this one will also be available through the mailing list for discussion.
If you’re not interested in joining a mailing list but still want notifications for new posts, I provide full-text and headlines-only RSS feeds. These feeds also get syndicated to the Fediverse, so if you follow me there you’ll see my posts.
Nevertheless, I’d like to see you in my inbox. Please consider it.