The FOI-L listserv moves to NFOIC

For Immediate Release (11/07/2019)

Contact: Daniel Bevarly

Executive Director, NFOIC

dbevarly@nfoic.org

352-294-7082

After 25 years being hosted at the University of Syracuse, the national FOI-L listserv has relocated to the University of Florida and the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC).  The owner/manager of  the FOI-L listserv, Barbara Fought is stepping down. Ms. Fought began it as a service to NFOIC to provide a discussion forum for persons working on open government and transparency issues in states. It then morphed into discussion not only about state issues but federal records and access issues, as well.  FOI-L currently includes around 680 subscribers, ranging from journalists to attorneys to access professionals. 

“I am grateful to all those who have kept the conversation going all these years, and am amazed at all the help and advice that has been given to so many people,” said Fought.  

NFOIC has agreed to continue the list and will now be managing it from the facilities at UF, where NFOIC now resides. “We are grateful to Barbara and to Syracuse University for their decades of stewardship,” said NFOIC executive director Dan Bevarly. “NFOIC considers the listserv to be a vital communication and information sharing resource for the hundreds of subscribers and beyond and looks forward to continuing the service and expanding its subscribers,” he added.

The listserv successfully transitioned from SU to UF on November 1st. NFOIC encourages interested individuals and organizations to join the list and join or start new conversations. Current subscribers do not have to do anything to remain on the listserv. The only difference for subscribers, is that to send new emails, or ‘posts’ to the list, they will now use the address foi-l@lists.ufl.edu

Here are some reminders about how LISTSERV operates: 

  • To join or subscribe, send an email from the address you want to subscribe to listserv@lists.ufl.edu with sub FOI-L firstname lastname (where firstname lastname are your first & last names) in the message body.
  • once you have subscribed, to post, send your message to: foi-l@lists.ufl.edu
  • To get a weekly digest of messages, rather than all the posts individually, send an email to listserv@lists.ufl.edu with set FOI-L digest in the message body.
  • To signoff, send an email from the address you’re subscribed to the list with  listserv@lists.ufl.edu with unsub FOI-L in the message body.
  • To access the FOI-L archives, which includes a searching function, go to https://lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.
  • If want to modify your subscriptions via email, see https://lists.ufl.edu/
  • If you would like to contact the list owner send an email to foi-l-request@lists.ufl.edu.
  • If you need help with the list if you’re having problems, please enter a ticket at https://my.it.ufl.edu