Discussion Forums

Listservers are moderated online discussion forums for people who share interests on particular topics. Subscriptions to listservs are free, usually only requiring you to register your name and Internet e-mail address so you can receive the daily exchanges. Members post and answer technical questions, share ideas and resources, collaborate on projects, and network with other professionals.

You can subscribe by sending a request to the listserve (below) and simply indicate in the body of the e-mail, <subscribe yourname>. Usually within 24 hours you will receive confirmation of your subscription and an information sheet on listserver rules, including how to post and reply to mail, and how to unsubscribe. In some cases, you will be requested to send another e-mail confirming your name and address, after which you will start to receive mail.

You may join a very active listserv and it is not uncommon to receive 20-50 separate pieces of mail daily. If this is a problem, you can request your mail to be delivered in "digest" form in which all daily mail is combined into one e-mail with a table of contents header. If you are not familiar with listservs and the kind of dialog that goes on, just "lurk" (observe) for a week or so and contribute when you feel comfortable.

You can use the listserv to post questions about your research topic, locate other people on the listserv or elsewhere who may serve as resources, and even survey the membership using online questionnaires (but don't overdo this). If you obtain information from several members, offer to share the results of your project with the membership as a courtesy for their assistance.

Information on using listservs

Now, on to the Listservs!

Academy of Management E-Mail Discussion Groups. List an links to 32 Academy of Management and management related forums.

Business & Administrative Lists. Mailbase Higher Education Statistics Agency HESA has 54 lists.

Catalist. From this page, you can browse any of the 14,543 public listserv lists on the Internet, search for mailing lists of interest, and get information about listserv host sites. This information is generated automatically from LISTSERV's LISTS database and is up to date. Search by host, number of subscribers, or alphabetically.

Economics and Social Sciences Lists. Mailbase HESA has 96 lists.

Liszt. 71,618 lists searchable by category or keyword. Business category includes 68 forums.

TileNet Lists. Searchable and browsable database  of lists by name, description or domain.