Listserv

OSPA operates an electronic mailing list (also called a listserv) as a service to Ohio school psychologists and student trainees in school psychology who are current OSPA members. The listserv has a current subscription of more than 500 members and affords subscribers the opportunity to not only keep current about the practice of school psychology, but also to maintain contact with each other.

In joining and participating in the Ohio School Psychologists Association listserv, you consent to abide by the following statements:

The comments, thoughts, observations, or opinions offered on the OSPA listserv are solely the expressed views of the message author and may not represent the policies, positions, or intentions of the Ohio School Psychologists Association.

The OSPA Listserv is a professional discussion forum sponsored by the Ohio School Psychologists Association. The listserv is intended to be used by Ohio school psychologists and Ohio student school psychology trainees for the purpose of discussing ongoing professional issues, concerns, and research developments impacting the practice of school psychology. The listserv is intended to be a forum allowing multiple responses from a broad perspective and spectrum of professional school psychology practice.

Your membership in the Ohio School Psychologists Association listserv presupposes that you exhibit civility, courtesy, and professionalism while engaging in the group's email discussions. As a part of this commitment to maintaining such demeanor, you should sign each message with your given name and email address to foster a spirit of community and accountability for your thoughts. In addition, you should refrain from transmitting unsolicited spam email or personal messages to the subscriber base unless prior authorization has been acquired by the listserv co-moderators.

Failure to observe the guidelines and policies of the OSPA listserv may result in suspension or termination of your listserv subscription.

Adopted from the NASP General Listserv Disclaimer
Authored by Chuck Archer, OSPA President 2002-03
Erich Merkle, OSPA Web Developer, &
Caven Mcloughlin, OSPA Web Editor
May, 2003

Below you can find instructions and answers to frequently asked questions about using the listserv:

1. What is an electronic mailing list (listserv)?

Discussion lists (or listservs as some call them) are group e-mail organized a topic, in this case, OSPA. An individual "subscribes" to the OSPA listserv and messages from members on the list are distributed to everyone by a computer software program. Membership in the OSPA listserv requires current memberhip to OSPA.

2. How do I subscribe to the OSPA electronic mailing list?

Subscribing is easy! Send a blank e-mail message from the account you want to receive the listserv e-mail to:

OSPA-SUBSCRIBE-REQUEST@listserv.kent.edu

You can also visit the listserv's web site and create an account. The OSPA listserv web site is located at:

http://listserv.kent.edu/archives/ospa.html

Please allow 7 days for your subscription request to be processed.

3. How can I change my listserv subscription settings or search the archives?

For current listserv subscribers, you can also change your listserv options through the web site or search the archives. Click here for instructions.

4. How do I send a message to the OSPA listserv?

From any e-mail program or web-based e-mail service, compose a message with the following address in the "TO" field:

ospa@listserv.kent.edu

When you successfully post an e-mail message to the OSPA listserv, you will receive an automatic confirmation message that the e-mail was accepted and delivered. If you do not receive such a message, either your message was not accepted or your disabled this option in your subscription settings.

5. When will I receive OSPA listserv messages?

You will receive OSPA listserv messages anytime someone sends one. If you set your listserv options to "Digest," then you will only receive e-mail headers or summary messages at the interval you set.

6. Is there a listserv owner's manual or documentation available to explain all of the listserv options?

Click here to learn more about the listserv features.

7. What if I don't want to receive e-mail from the listserv but still want to participate?

A newly implemented feature allows listserv subscribers the ability to read all of the listserv e-mail through the listserv web site, instead of their e-mail To use this feature, you must have a listserv password to login to the web site. In order to obtain a listserv account to login, please click here.

After you create a listserv account to login, you can visit the listserv web site from any web browser by going to:

http://listserv.kent.edu/archives/ospa.html

While there, you can Post A Message to the Listserv, Read previous listserv messages, Change your Account settings, and Search the listserv archives for a specific message.

8. Is there a way to search through the listserv messages to find something in particular or view previously posted messages?

Yes! Go to the listserv web site and select "Search the Archives".

9. How do I unsubscribe to the listserv?

To unsubscribe to the listserv, please send an e-mail message from the account where you receive the listserv e-mail to:

OSPA-SIGNOFF-REQUEST@listserv.kent.edu

10. Why do I keep receiving duplicate listserv messages?

Duplicate messages occasionally happen because of temporary outages in the listserv's hardware or software. If you frequently receive duplicate messages, it is most likely because you are subscribed to the listserv more than one time. Often this happens when an individual obtains a new e-mail address and requests that all e-mail from the previous address forward to the new address. In a few isolated circumstances, users were discovered to be subscribed more than five times! For additional information about this problem, please contact one of the listserv moderators.

11. What if I previously subscribed using another e-mail address and forgot to unsubscribe to the OSPA listserv?

The listserv software constantly "probes" subscriber's e-mail addresses to determine if they are active and able to accept e-mail Anytime an e-mail address returns an error for 5 days, the address is automatically removed from the subscription list. If you are unsubscribed, please resubscribe using the methods explained above.

12. How come I cannot send a message to the listserv?

The OSPA listserv was originally setup to only individual's to send messages from the actual e-mail address they subscribed under. Unfortunately while this is a helpful security feature, many users were encountering difficulties because they were trying to send listserv messages from an unauthorized account. Recently, the configuration of the listserv was changed again to disallow anyone to post messages who isn't a subscriber. Please contact the listserv moderator if you are continuing to experience problems with this issue.

13. Why do my e-mail messages appear differently from the way I composed them when they are distributed on the listserv?

In its most basic form, e-mail is simply text transmitted over the Internet. As technology has advanced, many software programs such as Microsoft's Outlook/Outlook Express and Eudora have changed to accommodate text formatting. While this is a convenient feature, the lack of a standard format for such text causes it to appear differently on everyone's computer. To be safe, you should try to only compose your e-mail using basic text. This will ensure that everyone can read your message.

14. Who is responsible for moderating the listserv and where does it originate from?

The listserv is operated through Kent State University's Division of Academic Computing and Technology. Chris Sweeney and Jeff York serve as the listserv moderators.

15. Why does my OSPA listserv email transmit correctly yet the messages come through with the author referenced as "No Name Available"?

When you submit a message to the OSPA listserv, the server software program processes the message and then distributes it to everyone subscribed. However, if you subscribed to the OSPA listserv and did not register a proper name along with your email address, the listserv software simply designates you as "no name available." Since some members have asked how to properly register their name to avoid this ambiguity in the email message, please do the following:

Begin to compose an email message using the email account under which you are registered to the OSPA listserv and address the message to: listserv@listserv.kent.edu

In the body of this email message type the sentence:
REG Your Name

(Replace Your Name above with the name you wish displayed on your listserv messages.)

Turn off any email signatures you have and then submit the message. Please make sure that you spell listserv correctly; it is not "listserve." After you distribute this message, you will receive an automatically generated response indicating that your name has been changed.

16. What if my question is not answered here?

Please contact the listserv moderator Chris Sweeney for additional information.