Explaining a mailing list seems to require three things: a justification, a charter, and an FAQ. For the IF mailing list, a list about interactive fiction which I set up (and moderate) at http://www.feelies.org/mailman/listinfo/if-list, these are:
This is perhaps the most obvious one to ask about, since there are already not one but two newsgroups on the subject of IF (rec.arts.int-fiction, rec.games.int-fiction), not to mention plenty of web pages, and even a web bb or two. Nevertheless, I think there is some value in a mailing list. Not so much for the format, although I personally find email a convenient way to handle this, but because none of the previously-mentioned communities provide a focused forum for the discussion of interesting topics in IF. Some provide some of these, but none provide all (most notably, the newsgroups fail to provide any sort of focus to the conversation, no way to trim threads which have left the realm of "interesting to people besides the participants," and no way to block out people who are only interested in trolling or flaming). Anyway, this segues nicely into the next topic, the charter:
There is no formal charter as such, but the intention, like I said above, is for this to be a "focused forum for the discussion of interesting topics in IF". To take those points in reverse order:
Interesting topics in IF: While I'm not averse to the list discussing topics that have been discussed before (and goodness knows there's always more to say about mimesis, or puzzle cluing, or Some Trends In Modern IF) but if something has been completely hashed out ("Which IF game has the largest number of rooms?") or is completely subjective ("Which is better, ASK/TELL or menu-based conversation?") I'd prefer to see it kept off the list (but "In game X, I think ASK/TELL would have been better because.." or "In this game I'm planning, which do you think would be better?" are great to talk about on-list).
Similarly, it would be better if completely non-IF stuff ("Anyone know where I can get a PDP-11 emulator?" "So, how 'bout them Yankees!") were kept off the list. In some of these cases, things kept off the list can be responded to (publically or privately) with a pointer to a FAQ or a thread on google groups; in other cases it's more appropriate to just leave them alone.
Forum for discussion: Talking about stuff is good. Talking with other people is good. Ideally the list encourages discussion of IF, by being friendly and casual, by having interesting people on it, and also by cutting short discussions that become either nasty or off-topic.
Focused: Up to this point on this page I've avoided saying the word "moderation" since some people have an averse reaction to it. Instead I've stuck to things like "The list should ..." and "It would be nice if people would ..." But just so it's clear, this list will be gently but firmly moderated. I am a busy guy and don't have time to approve every post, but people who persist in starting off-topic threads or make personal attacks or otherwise degrade the quality of the discussion will be removed from the list.
I should emphasize that I will hardly ever have to do this, and most of the on-topicness and all of the quality of discussion will come from the fact that the list members are mature people who are interested in talking about IF. But if necessary I will exercise my mystic moderator powers. On this note, I should also emphasize that I have no credentials for this position whatsoever. I have written a few IF games and posted on the newsgroups occasionally and that is about it. But I am very interested in talking about IF, and I think the newsgroups are no longer the best place to do so — this list may be the new best place.
I don't really have any frequently-asked questions to stick here, so I will just make some up: