The World Wide Web's popularity sprung from the ability to transfer and view color images and photographs, instead of just written text, from one computer to another. This ability, which is easily taken for granted nowadays, was an evolutionary step beyond plain text, the standard of the Internet until 1992. While the Web provides a medium for the presentation of information, it hasn't up to this point done a very good job of facilitating discussion among individuals around the world. Newsgroups are online public discussion forums where anyone can discuss any topic they choose. They are arranged according to broad topic areas, and contain messages that people can read and respond to in public.
Messages come to each person subscribing to the mailing list as individual pieces of e-mail.
Each message sent to the list is likewise distributed to every other member on the mailing list, no matter where they may be in the world. Mailing lists tend to be more specific than newsgroups, and because of their increased privacy, tend to attract more professionals than do the newsgroups. You should type them in exactly as they appear throughout this book. It doesn't hurt to type in addresses exactly as you see them, especially when you are not sure. This book is organized in a fashion which allows you to quickly and easily find the topics you're most interested in as a behavioral health professional.