This is an explanation for people who don't know what a listserv is. I hope I can explain it well enough!
A listserv, in our case, is a communication tool. It's a way to send e-mails back and forth to a big group of people at once! Here's how it works:
I created a listserv, and people subscribe to it. Here's a hypothetical situation. Say 50 people are on the list. Somebody has a question about RSD...let's say that her friends have decided to exclude her because she can't do what her friends want to do. So, instead of feeling "all alone," she sends an e-mail to the listserv. That e-mail is automatically sent to all 50 members, including the person who wrote it.
Now, 5 other members have been through the same thing, and they have suggestions about how to deal with it. One person decides to respond. She hits the "reply" button, just like in a regular e-mail. She types a message with her suggestion, telling her experience, and lets the first person know that she's not all alone. She sends the e-mail, and it again is automatically sent to all the people on the list, including the girl who asked the question in the first place, and the girl who wrote the second e-mail.
The e-mail that the second girl wrote inspired another person to write about her experiences. The same thing happens: the e-mail is automatically send to everyone. This goes on and on, as long as the members of the listserv decide to talk about it.
Another person, whose friends recently told him that they don't want to be his friends anymore, reads the discussion. He was feeling depressed, but when he sees that other people are going through the same thing, he feels better. He also joins in the conversation, by sending an e-mail to the listserv, like everyone else, which is again sent to everyone.
That's an example of how a listserv works. There are tons of other things we can use it for. It's great for discussing anything with a big group of people, rather than just one person at a time. You can send jokes to the list, talk about something good that happened, or basically anything.
A listserv also makes it much easier to organize an RSD awareness campaign and stuff like that.
It doesn't work if only a few people join! We need lots of participants to make it work. This can be a fun, useful, and helpful thing...but only if people join and participate!
If you aren't already a Teen Corner member, e-mail me before subscribing, or I won't approve your subscription. I need to know who you are before I let you join!
