Join a List or Group or Subscribe to a Zine
A list or discussion group is a forum where people with a common interest join and discuss ideas. Another type of forum is the message board where you post a message on a website and others can read it. It is the equivalent of an internet bulletin board. Some lists and message boards are by invitation only and others are public that anyone can join.
Finding a List
The internet has many lists and message boards for methadone patients. They are places where you can talk to other methadone patients and get support. The largest and oldest list is the Calyx Methadone List hosted by the same company that does NAMA’s website. The Calyx Methadone List, sometimes called “The Methadone List” is nearly ten years old now and usually between 250 to 300 people are on it at any given time. Most of the people on the Methadone List do not post to it — they are called “lurkers” and remain unknown only Reading postings. The Methadone List has government workers on it especially Federal level employees who are lurking and use the list to find out about programs and other problems that methadone patients have. There are also international people on the Methadone List. Another large public list is Addict-L that is even more international than the Calyx. Public lists are lsted on USENET however the Methadone List is not posted to USENET as most are and most people find it either through NAMA or by word of mouth.
You can start a list at Yahoo Groups or Topica. There are many small lists and groups and some are even more specific like methadone patients in Pennsylvania or women on methadone or survivers of sexual abuse on methadone. These small forums come and go as the need arises.
You can do a Web search for lists, groups and message boards and find sites that host them and then go to those sites and search for methadone related forums.
How Does A List Work
When you subscribe to a list you will start getting List postings by anyone who posts (sends a message) to the list. Someone sends a message and it goes out to everyone one the list including that person who sent the message.
If you want to you can respond to the message. Proper protocol is to use the same subject so people on the list can follow the conversation on this topic. Items about the same topic are called “threads”. Usually several people wil respond and their messages go to everyone on the list including them. People may respond to those messages creating a conversation. This is a great way to meet people. Always remember to sign your name but always take care when you post your email address on any public forum.
List Resources
Usenet News: contains information on mailing lists and Usenet groups on topics related to the World Wide Web. (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ucs/WWW/WWW_mailing_lists.html)
Email Discussion Groups/Lists and Resources: a one-stop information resource about email discussion groups or “lists,” as they are sometimes called. (http://www.impulse-research.com/list.html)
A Discussion List Primer: an introduction to E-Mail Discussion Lists, what they are, how they work, terms used, tips on posting, do’s and don’ts, how to unjoin a list and tips on list management. (http://www.pmforum.org/list/lstguide.htm)
listTool.com: a collection of mailing and discussion list resources and links. (http://www.listtool.com/resources.html)
EverythingEmail: User and List Provider Resources. (http://everythingemail.net/email_discussion.html#user)
Join a List
A number of lists are monitored by NAMA chapters. Some are for patients in their state and some for all patients. They work just like the larger Methadone List but they are smaller and friendlier. And unlike the Methadone List they are not as busy with perhaps only a few messages a day.
Dolophinia Cafe (BAMA NAMA)
Hosted by Alabama NAMA their are quite a few Southern methadone patients on the list, however their are patients from all over the US.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DOLOPHINEA_CAFE/
L-Methadone Listerve (NAMA NorCal)
The Meth-L List is hosted by NAMA NorCal with help from PA NAMA. It is a fairly large list and their are a lot of patients on it but not as many as the Calyx.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Meth-Lmembers/
NAMA NorCal List
This is a Nama NorCal’s List for California patients and other California groups are on it like CentralCalNAMA and NAMA SoCal.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NAMA-NorCal
PA NAMA List
This is PA NAMA’s List for Pennsylvania patients. It is a fairly large and friendly list.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PA-NAMA
Visit a Forum or a Message Board
A Message Board or Forum works very much like a list with the main difference that the messages are put on the equivalent of an electronic Message Board. The subject for each message
is shown and sometimes responses are put under them so you see the full “thread” and some boards post in order by date. Some of the larger Message Boards will give you the choice of
listing by message or date. To post on some Message Boards you may have to register and for others anyone can post. Never put your email on your message even
if you want someone to respond to you privately. To do this send a message to the board or list master and ask them to send it to the person you would like to correspond with.
We Speak Methadone
NAMA’s Message Board is less than a year old but growing fast. You will find a lot of interesting messages and people there.
NAMA Message Board
TexNAMA Methadone Advocates Forum
This is a small but very popular forum and many of the members have known each other for some time. Althought it was intended for patients from Texas most are from all over the US.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/electriclady
Or:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webtag=LectrkLady&cguid=C259134F-871
Methadone En Espanol (Miami/FL NAMA)
If you feel more comfortable speaking Spanish then I reccommend Methadone En Espanol. The members are from Spanish speaking countries all over the world. The board also includes information about methadone in Spanish.
http://members4.boardhost.com/MethadoneEspanol
Addiction Treatment Watchdog
This is quite an extensive website that includes a Message Board and information about methadone. The Message Board has some dedicated members that post and communicate to others.
http://www.atwatchdog.org/
Advocates for Recovery through Medicine ARM
The ARM website has a small Message Board that goes back a few years. The website also has information about methadone.
http://www.arm-advocates.org/
Join The Methadone List
The Methadone List is the premier list and many will subscribe for awhile and then unsubscribe. One of the main reasons people do this is because it is a busy list with up to 60 messages a day at times. So it can be difficult to keep up with the threads.
Subscribing
To subscribe to the Methadone List send a message to [email protected] .
- Subject Line: Leave it blank.
- Message Body: On the first line put: subscribe methadone
This is how instructions or commands are written for lists. Do NOT include the <>‘s.
An example of how this would look is:
subscribe methadone Penny Program
That’s all you’ve got to do!
Other Commands
For some people messages arriving every few minutes can be an annoying amount of mail, so I suggest you use the “Digest Mode”.
This will put postings in a digest version for you and you’ll receive only 2-3 pieces of mail daily with 10 to 20 messages per digest.
Setting Digest Mode
Send a message to [email protected]
- Subject Line: Leave it blank.
- Message Body: set methadone mail digest
Getting a List of Commands
If you want the instructions straight from the horses mouth; go to this website:
http://www.calyx.net/listproc/listproc.html
Or you can also get a list of commands by sending a message to [email protected].
- Subject Line: Leave it blank.
- Message Body: help
This is the command to get instructions for most lists.
Methadone List Archives
If you want to peruse the archives of the MMT List; go to:
http://ns2.calyx.net/pub/mailing-lists/methadone/
NAMA would like to thank CALYX for setting up the Methadone List and of course for hosting the NAMA website.
Calyx is an excellent internet service provider, please support them.
Subscribe To a Zine
A zine is an electronic newsletter and like one on paper it can be published daily, weekly, monthly etc. Some are text and some use HTML with graphics. Some zines are published to enhance the Mission or goals of the website. For example many of the zines here are published by organizations whose primary Mission is education.
NAMA eAlert
NAMA is starting a zine to notify people in the community when something is happeing such as a negative newspaper article, a program not being able to open because of community opposition, changes in policy, etc. To know when something is happening subscribe to eAlert.
Join Together Online JTO
Published by Join Together this is a daily zine with announcements, reviews, events, news, etc. If you want to keep up on the news then you want to subscribe to JTO.
Subscribe to JTO Direct
eNewsletter
The Drug Policy Alliance published eNewsletter weekly with news and information. The informationisprimarily for drug and policy reform.
Subscribe to eNewsletter
DrugSense
DrugSense is published by the Media Awareness Project a drug reform organization that collects information about drug reform. The weekly articles are summarized in DrugSense including methadone. Therefore DrugSense is a good way to keep an look out for any negative media about methadone.
Subscribe to DrugSense
OPIATE ADDICTION.RX
Published by OPIATE ADDICTION.RX a website primarily dedicated to methadone treatment and other chemotherapies is publishes news from around the world.
Subscribe to OPIATE ADDICTION.RX