A discussion thread about email subject lines has been growing on The Progressive Exchange List, beginning with a question from Karla Capers of the Union of Concerned Scientists:

I just received this email from "Doug Bishop" asking me to make a donation to the Edwards campaign. I have used this tactic before to raise money for organizations--sending an appeal to the list from a fellow "everyday person"--but I've never changed the "from" name on the outgoing email. I worry that if the email comes from a new name that list subscribers don't recognize they'll either just delete it, or worse, report it as spam. What do others think about this tactic?

Jed Miller, ACLU

Web communities are occasional stop-bys for most users, but a listserv community like Progressive Exchange lives in your inbox. It's a regular presence and a good resource, as long as you're not one of those crazies who's compelled to read every single message.

Progressive Exchange is worth the extra mail: a network of NPO tech staff, consultants, strategists and vendors more focused on problem-solving than self-promotion (though there's certainly some of the latter).

Topics range from one-off announcements of jobs, seminars, and semi-formal gatherings (mostly in D.C.), to calls for referrals, to roundtable discussions of news and innovations, some of these becoming pretty serious group analysis.