National Institute for Literacy - Discussion Lists

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AOL Members: Please do not tag messages coming from nifl.gov as spam. This can cause AOL to start blocking discussion list messages to ALL AOL users. If you are receiving too many emails you can either stop the mailing list from sending you mail or unsubscribe (please see "How do I temporarily stop messages being sent without unsubscribing?" or "How do I unsubscribe from a list?" on our discussion list help page) If you have any technical questions concerning discussion list mail please contact listhelp@nifl.gov

Receiving mail from the lists
Sending mail to the lists

Receiving mail from the Discussion Lists using AOL

AOL sometimes tags the National Institute for Literacy's Discussion List posts as spam. When it is tagged spam, the post is automatically placed in a "Spam" folder, not the "Inbox", which is the default screen for AOL mail. Check your "Spam" mailbox on a regular basis to make sure you have not missed any posts. You can also check the list archive pages for posts you may have missed, since all posts are listed there as soon as they are sent from the server.

You can change your mail settings so that all mail is automatically delivered to your "Inbox", but in order to do this you must uncheck the "Mail Filtered by AOL Advanced Spam Filter" and choose "Allow mail from all senders" options in the "Spam Controls" (link is located under the spam mail list in the "Spam" folder). Please note that if you choose this option, you will not be protected from any spam or virus laden mail by AOL.

Sending Mail to the Discussion Lists using AOL

The Institute no longer has a "no attachments" policy for discussion list messages to prevent the propagation of email borne viruses. Our Mailman server accepts formatted text. However, it is still preferable to send your list messages in "plain text" format for optimal viewing by the most subscribers. The latest version of AOL, AOL 9, has the ability to send "plain text" messages, but sets its mail to send in HTML format by default. If you would like to change this setting or send in plain text using previous versions of AOL, please see the instructions below.

Sending mail using AOL Version 9:

Login to AOL and click on "Write" up in the top AOL menu bar, or "Write Mail" in the Mail Options drop down box to open a composition window.
Right click in the area where you will compose your email.
Click the last option on the bottom of the menu: "Compose as Plain Text". (The formatting options above the text box will then appear grayed out.)
Make sure your font is set to "Arial" and "10" and type your email.
When finished, send your email to the list (Do not add an automatic "Signature" to your email, this may change your settings back to html).

If you are ever in doubt as to what setting you are in, remember to check the tool bar above the composition window, if the formatting options are grayed out, you are composing in plain text.

If you have earlier versions of AOL:

You will need to send your list mail using the alternative AOL web based interface to AOL mail if you wish to send in "plain text" format from earlier versions of aol

To use AOL's web based mail interface:

Start a browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, AOL's embedded browser, etc.) and go to www.aol.com
Enter your screen name and password at the top right of the page in the "AOL Members Sign On" section and click "Sign On".
Click on the Mailbox Icon under the "Welcome <screenname>"
Use this email interface in very much the same way as the regular AOL screen, however the default is now "plain text" rather than HTML.