A software program called Listserv is used to administer all the mailing lists. You join and leave conferences by sending a message to the Listserv at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA. Its email address is [email protected].

This is how you do it!

You join a conference by sending the command subscribe conference-name your-first-name your-last-name to the Listserv's email address.

Example: To join the Kidleader-Deutsch conference, send an email to [email protected]. If your name is Tor Hansen, put the following line in the text of your message (not on the subject line):

subscribe kidleader-deutsch Tor Hansen

Now, replace "Tor Hansen" with your real name, and send the message.

Another example: Your name is Ronald Bekkimellom, and you want to join the Kidcafe-Spanish conference. Send the following mail:

To: [email protected]
Subject: (Keep this blank)
Text field: subscribe kidcafe-spanish Ronald Bekkimellom

Replace kidcafe-spanish with the name of other mailing lists that you want to join. Actually, if you are a teacher interested in having your students participate in any of the dialogs, you can do this with a single email message containing all the commands.

Here are some other examples:

subscribe kidlink-spanish Tor Hansen
subscribe kidforum-coord Tor Hansen

What next?

The Listserv will send you a message asking you to confirm your subscription to this conference. This is done to protect you from being subscribed by a third person without your consent.

Simply reply to the message that the Listserv sent you, and type OK as the text of your reply message. Do not change the Subject line's text.

Example:

To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Command confirmation request (23E5CC)
Text field: OK

Soon, the Listserv will confirm your subscription and start to send you discussion items from the mailing list in question.

Very important: Never send the subscribe commands to the mailing lists themselves, as in [email protected]. Only the Listserv itself can take care of subscriptions and signoffs. Therefore, always send such administrative commands to the Listserv's email address ([email protected]).

Joining the discussion

If you want to send a mail to the members of the conference, send it to [email protected] as in

[email protected]
[email protected]

Rules for participation

Each conference has a specific purpose. Discussions are expected to be related to this purpose.

The purpose is usually outlined in the individual mailing list's welcome mail to new subscribers, and in the mailing list's supporting web page. If such information is missing, please consult the Kidlink overview page.

For more about participation rules, please see Kidlink's Policy Statements