[tri-med] Handling Mail Volume

Anyone who wants to see a high volume of e-mail should visit my computer
:-)) I average about 700 mails a day, 99% of which are trisomy, genetic,
medical or disability related. And yes I do get behind!!! I think only once
in the last 8 years have I had an empty mail box - and that was only because
I accidentally deleted the whole thing - lost in cyber space forever!!!! I
have been considering having that accident again :-))

Usually the volume of mail on the Family and Med lists is not near as high
as it is at the moment. Weekends are usually the quietest time of the week.
And conference time (US summer) is the quiestest time of the year because
everyone is at conference and we who are left behind just get updates from
the majority :-)))

Volume varies day to day, season to season, but it is exceptionally high at
the moment because of the extra new members (normally newbies join one at a
time, not all together)

Believe me you will soon learn to skim subjects and threads (just as you
would on the message boards).

I personally manage my mail by sorting it by subject, so that everything is
grouped in threads, rather than as it is received (which is the default
setting on your e-mail program). I also use the flag feature - mails that
contain certain words (such as subscribe, unsubscribe etc) are flagged as
high priority. If ever you want to grab my attention - yell my name in the
subject line :-))

If you ever get delete happy (and we all do it) and realise that you have
missed something we do have archives, both at freelists (members only) and
at e-scribe (public, but no e-mail addresses are available). The escribe
archives are ONLY available for tri-med, tri-family and tri-mosaic (a
research list). Tri-Wings and Tri-Choices are NOT archived publicly because
of the sensitive nature of those mails. All are archived at freelists and on
my computer.

The e-scribe archives are the most user friendly, and they are searchable.
You cannot however post to the list from the archives and the archives are
not guaranteed. There is no expiry date on the archives, and they go back a
long time. What arent on e-scribe are held elsewhere. I also hold a back up
copy of everything on my computer and CD. So if ever you need anything
before escribe let me know.

However having said all that, I do acknowledge that the mail volume gets
very high at times. Especially when someone is sick etc. Even before the new
folk joined we had a high volume of mail because Faren and Tia were having
some tough times. But then on the other hand when something very sad
happens, such as we lose one of our precious little ones, mail can almost
disappear as everyone grieves with the family.

To accomodate as many families as we can, and meet as many needs as is
humanly possible, some years ago now we decided to split the main list. I
think at that time we averaged about 300 families, but now that we have over
600 families (last count) its even more important.

So I will post a few admin posts shortly (they are recycled so bear with the
minor wording problems) explaining which list does what....

But for the new folk I should explain. Occasionally, although I aim for
regularly, I make admin posts. That DOESN'T mean anyone has done ANYTHING
WRONG!!! Everyone gets paranoid when I make them, please, please don't.

Sometimes I will post them as a gentle reminder if I see a topic getting a
little bit "strained" or heading in a direction thats dangerous but usually
there is no rhyme or reason when I send them. Most are pre-diarised and if I
have anything to say to anyone I will do it directly and OFF LIST.

So having said that - I will now turn you over to some "regular" admin
posts. Please do read them :-)) I have been known to do spot quizzes with
certain individuals - haven't I Nanci :-)))) Oh and Karen's usual punishment
for breaches are wet noodle lashes :-))) - thats how mean I am!!!!

He who never made a mistake never made a discovery.
-- Samuel Smiles

Keep Looking for Rainbows!!!
Karen, Mum to Alex (7, T-18 mosaic)
Sydney, Australia
http://members.optushome.com.au/karens
http://www.trisomyonline.org

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

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