eLiteracy E-Mail List

What is eLiteracy?

It's a way for you to share information with other volunteers. By sending an e-mail message to one address, you reach all Literacy Volunteers of Rochester (LVR) people interested in communicating this way.

A list is software that keeps a record of people interested in a particular topic. The software forwards incoming mail to all who participate, i.e. to all "subscribers." The advantage is that the software handles administrative details such as people joining, people leaving, and e-mail address changes. You always use the same address to send a message to all subscribers.

Who is the audience for this list?

Any LVR volunteer, tutor, student, or staff member. In other words, this list is for our internal LVR discussions.

How do I send a message to all subscribers?

In your e-mail program, address a message to:

Add a subject and text as you normally would, then send the message. Because eLiteracy only accepts mail from subscribers, and because the office vets requests to join, eLiteracy is free of spam.

How do I respond to a message I received from this list?

If you want to respond only to the person who sent the message, use your mail program's "reply" function. If you want to respond to all participants, use "reply" and then change the "to" address to

What if I no longer want to participate?

Please send a mail note to:

The list will send you a message to which you must reply in order to leave the list.

Someone asked me how to get on this list.

If the person belongs to the target audience for this list, ask him/her to send an e-mail message to:

As with "unsubscribing," the list will automatically send the person a message to which they must reply in order to complete the process.

I changed my e-mail address and still want to take part.

Use the previous two steps. Unsubscribe using your old address; subscribe with your new address. The list software acts on the "from" address in your message.

Can my messages be read by anybody on the Internet?

Since we don't want to open our discussions to anyone on the Internet, "subscribe" requests (to join this list) are automatically forwarded to a staff member who must approve such requests before they become effective. This helps assure you're communicating only with people connected with Literacy Volunteers of Rochester.

What subjects are appropriate for eLiteracy?

Any subject addressed by LVR including tutoring or learning English. If you want to sell your car, eLiteracy isn't the right place to expound on its virtues.

I'm concerned about messages such as the following:

Subject: warning from

…

Messages to you from the eliteracy mailing list seem to have been bouncing. I've attached a copy of the first bounce message I received.

If this message bounces too, I will send you a probe. If the probe bounces, I will remove your address from the eliteracy mailing list, without further notice.

Further down the message there are usually details in "computer-speak," such as

Remote host said: 550 Administrative prohibition

or

Remote host said: 451 Temporary local problem

This is a feature and not necessarily a problem. You did, after all, receive the warning message, so you're connected.

Here's what's happening. As explained above, when someone sends a message via eLiteracy, the list software relays it to all subscribers. The software is programmed to deal with messages that can't be delivered. The "computer-speak" details generally give the reason. In the cases mentioned above, the "remote host," in other words your mail service, had some problem.

We've also seen responses that indicate your mail service is blocking eLiteracy mail as alleged spam. Your mail service makes this determination; we can't do anything about it.

If a particular address frequently refuses mail, the eLiteracy software considers it a "dead" address and removes it. This feature seems reasonable because people often change addresses without updating all the lists in which they participate.

These warning messages mean you missed one or more eLiteracy messages and that you indeed received this test. So no action is needed.

If you believe that eLiteracy dropped you from its subscriber list, you can always join the list again as described above under "Someone asked me how to get on this list." If you're already a subscriber, nothing bad happens.