Discussion Lists are the primary platform of Mountain Forum to connect members to share information, provide mutual support and to advocate on issues related mountain issues in a simple and effective manner. Mountain Forum manages and moderates 12 discussion lists. These are both geographic and thematic in nature and are listed below.

Global and Thematic Discussion Lists

mf-geography (Focused on mountain geography issues)
mf-global (Focused on mountain issues at the global level)
mf-summary (Summary of all Mountain Forum discussion lists)
mf-women (Focused on mountain women issues)

Regional Discussion Lists

mf-africa (Focused of mountain issues in Africa)
mf-asiapacific (Focused on mountain issues in Asia-Pacific)
mf-carpathians (Focused on issues related to the Carpathians)
mf-centralasia (Focused on mountain issues in Central Asia)
mf-europe (Focused on mountain issues in Europe)
mf-infoandina (Focused on mountain issues in Latin America - in Spanish)
mf-namerica (Focused on mountain issues in North America)
mf-paramos (Focused on Andean high-altitude grasslands - in Spanish)

All the discussion lists moderated by Mountain Forum are free and open for anyone with an interest to join. Once you join any list, you automatically become a member of Mountain Forum. Thousands of members are currently subscribed to these discussion lists managed by Mountain Forum.

Discussion lists provide an opportunity for members to support, promote and seek opinions about their work from the Mountain Forum community. It is also a platform to form partnerships, networks and alliances at the local, regional, and global levels to serve the mountain community.

What is a Discussion List?

A discussion list is a group of people who interact with each other on specific themes or interests through email. The discussion list has its own email address. When any member of the list writes to that address, his or her message is delivered to all the other members at the same time. The number of people in such a group can go into the thousands and more. Discussion lists allow people to interact with each other in a quick, inexpensive and effective manner. The content of a discussion list can be either be moderated or unrestricted before it reaches group members. If the discussion list is unrestricted, members are free to directly send any message to other members of a group. However, when a discussion list is moderated, messages from subscribers are reviewed before being distributed to members to that particular group. A moderated discussion list is generally more focused and free of unrelated content, junk and spam mail, and other unwanted messages.

All Mountain Forum discussion lists are moderated and follow a moderation policy which we have developed over the years. Please click here to know more about these policies.

How do I join?

Subscribing
1. Register as a member of Mountain Forum. (It's free!)
2. Subscribe to the discussion lists of your choice using the membership form.

Unsubscribing
1. You may unsubscribe at any time by updating your membership.
2. Or you may terminate your membership with Mountain Forum.

How do I participate?

A member has no obligation to send any messages to the discussion list(s) they are subscribed to. However, members are encouraged to participate in Mountain Forum through discussion lists as then they stand to gain much more from the collective knowledge of the entire mountain community.

There are many ways to participate in discussion lists, and we encourage you to take advantage of as many as possible.

First and foremost is to contribute your experience to discussion lists. For those of you who may be new to discussion lists, or feel hesitant about posting your message, you are just the kind of person we are hoping to reach. Please be assured that this is a friendly, supportive, and open discussion. A diversity of voices enriches us all.
We encourage you to present examples or case studies from your own experience, and especially to tell about lessons you or your colleagues have learned while engaged in equitable and ecologically sustainable mountain development.
Let us know about upcoming events in your area, or new information sources of use to the mountain community.
Send us case studies, reports, or bibliographies to include in the electronic archives of Mountain Forum.
Tell us about other discussion lists, databases, or websites which you have found useful.
Share information and discussions on this list with colleagues who are not on email.
Identify potential participants and involve them in Mountain Forum activities.
Work with other participants to form partnerships at the local, regional, and global levels.
Above all, let us know how to make the discussion lists more effective. All suggestions are welcome!

Discussion List Archives

Through the generous support of our partner - Bellanet - we are able to provide archives for all of the lists above. Click here to go to the archives.

In case you have any questions or need any clarifications on discussion lists, please send an email to lists[at]mtnforum[dot]org.