An Introduction to Mailing Lists

Why mailing lists are a unique method for groups to communicate together online

What They Are

E-mail mailing lists allow messages sent to one address to be distributed to a group of people -- the subscribers of the mailing list. Most mailing lists are intended to allow the subscribers to converse together, and allow all subscribers to post (send) messages to the list. Some mailing lists provide a moderator, who screens messages before they are distributed, to prevent unrelated or non-informational messages to be posted. Newsletters can be distributed by mailing lists, too -- only the newsletter editor can post messages to the list.

To subscribe to a mailing list, receive messages from it, and post mesages to it, all you need is an e-mail account. Almost all mailing lists are free, supporting themselves either by volunteer labor or by the inclusion of ads in the messages. Hundreds of thousands of mailing lists exist, and you can search for one of interest at one of several mailing list database Web sites.

If there's no mailing list on a topic you want to discuss, you can always create your own. Many Web sites allow you to set up a mailing list for free, or your ISP may provide mailing list services.

How They Work

The distribution of messages and the maintenance of the subscribers list are usually handled by a mailing list management program, or list server, or MLM. Several list servers are widely used on the Internet, including LISTSERV, ListProc, Majordomo, and Lyris. Each list server has its own set of commands for subscribing (joining), unsubscribing (signing off), and setting your configuration options. You communicate with the list server by sending it e-mail messages. Commands (such as the "subscribe" command, to get onto the list of subscribers) must be sent to the list servers administrative address. Messages intended to be distributed to the mailing list subscribers are sent to the list address. When you subscribe to a list, you usually receive a welcome message with full instructions for participating in the list, including what commands you can use.

Types of Lists

Because there are so many mailing lists, they work in a wide variety of ways. One distinction is between announcement lists and discussion lists:

Announcement lists are like newsletters: only the list manager (the owner of the list) can post messages on the list. Announcement lists are great for getting information out quickly and cheaply via e-mail. For example, a church can use an announcement list to send out its monthly newsletter, or a manufacturer can send press releases to their press list.
Discussion lists provide an online forum for discussion. Usually, any subscriber can post messages to the list. When one subscriber posts an interesting message, other subscribers respond back to the list, and all the subscribers can read the ongoing exchange. For discussion lists to be effective, the list manager must establish rules for posting, including appropriate topics and styles. Discussion lists can be moderated (that is, all messages must be approved by a moderator before being distributed) or unmoderated (messages are distributed automatically).

Lists can also be public or private:

Public lists (or open lists) allow anyone to subscribe. For example, if you keep chickens, you might subscribe to public list that discusses domestic poulty: the list is open to anyone interested in that topic.
Private lists (or closed lists) require the list manager to approve subscriptions, based on some type of requirement. For example, if the finance committee at a church wanted to conduct business by e-mail between meetings, they could establish a closed mailing list and allow only committee members to subscribe.

Some lists maintain archives, files that contain all the messages posted to the list. List archives may be available to subscribers only or to the general public (so watch what you say on mailing lists!) The archives of some lists are accessible via a Web page, which may even let you search for messages by author, date, or keyword.

As a list subscriber, you have some options, too. You can receive the messages from a mailing list one at a time, or in batches:

Digests are batches of messages from a mailing list. If you'd prefer to read all the messages from the mailing list together, rather than having them mixed in with your personal messages, you can configure your mailing list subscription so that you receive the messages in digests -- usually, one digest (batch) per day.
Individual messages are sent by the list server as subscribers post them. If you receive messages individually, there's usually little delay before you receive the message. If you'd prefer to read your mailing list messages together, and you use Eudora, Netscape Messenger, Eudora, or another e-mail program that includes filters, you can set up a filter so that all the messages from the mailing list are sorted into a separate folder.

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Copyright 1999-2000 Margaret Levine Young, one of the Internet Gurus.
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http://lists.gurus.com/intro.html page last changed on January 14, 2000.