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An Internet Mailing List is a list made up of subscribers using emails as the
medium of communication. Joining a ?mailing list? is a way of saying ?Keep me
informed?; a list of people have requested to be informed of a specific subject
matter and all relevant issues, these issues submitted by other list members.
E-mail is, and has always been, the greatest application of the Internet era.
Did you know that more e-mails are sent daily than telephone calls are made?
When one thinks of e-mail it is usually regarded as a person-to-person communication
activity. Mailing lists, though, encourage a greater and more varied amount
of e-mail activity, anything from two-way communication to full interactive
discussions open to the public. Lists can be restricted to within private circles;
and, one-way lists can deliver announcements, newsletters, and advertising.
Advertising mailing lists comprise a significant bulk of electronic traffic.
Information on this type of list can be found here: http://serverwatch.internet.com/listservers.html
Generically speaking mailing lists can be classified in two ways: a ?one-way?,
and a ?two-way? mailing list. A one-way mailing list either accepts or sends
information, the user only interacting with the list server; and a two-way list
creates interaction.
One-way mailing lists are often used to send newsletters, announcements, and
advertising. One-way incoming mailing lists are less common but still useful.
These are often used to allow users to send commands to a server. For example,
a fax- back service might accept incoming e-mail requests for a document, and
it may fax (or e-mail) the requested document back to the individual. E-mail
Spam is another example of a one-way outgoing mailing list.
A two-way mailing list lets users interact with other subscribers to that mailing
list. Two-way mailing lists are generally limited to subscribers, in the sense
that a user sends a message to a specified address to sign up for that particular
list. List subscriptions may be open to the public, meaning that anyone can
subscribe, or they may be private and restricted to known parties. For example
to be used for educational discussion lists for specific courses.
In the same way that a single ?Web server? (a computer with web space allocated
to storage) can host multiple unrelated Web sites, a ?list server? (another
computer) often hosts multiple mailing lists.
A typical list server has 3 levels of management: the server administrator,
the list server administrator, and the list owner. The server administrator
has top-level access to the configuration of the list server and probably to
the machine on which it runs. He or she maintains the list server software.
The List Server Administrator has access to the administrative functions of
the list server software to create, adjust or delete mailing lists and to assign
list owners. The list owner manages a particular mailing list. Privileges may
include handling subscription problems and templates.
Through the utilization of mailing lists there is an endless scope of information
available on almost any topic, this application worth is obvious, research is
important to most people, whether it is for business, personal or even the school
project. A typical place to start is: http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html
Mailing lists can also be used as quick and effective information gathering
devices. ?Information Catalogues? are available on the search engines in which
to find the appropriate mailing list.
There are also services to aid you in creating your OWN mailing list; the most
popular web hosting companies now commonly offer these services. More frequently
Web Hosting companies, such as M6.net, found at http://www.m6.net offer very
powerful and maintenance-free mailing lists with their hosting services, and
usually, as in M6.net?s case, for no extra cost to the account holder.
It is advisable to check out whether a web host can offer this service first
before you consider a home for your project?s website. After all, the mailing
list is probably the best promotion tool on the Internet today, and the email
is its life-blood.
Courtesy of M6.Net |
