(EN)UV DISTRIBUTION LISTS. General introduction

General introduction

What is a mailing list?

A mailing list is a distribution list that allows a group of subscribers to receive all e-mail messages sent to it : all messages sent to the list by a subscriber are received by all other subscribers. When you subscribe to a mailing list, you can send messages, answer them or simply read them without participating.

Special cases:

• Sometimes it is possible to send messages to a mailing list without subscribing to it. However, you need to be subscribed to a list in order to receive your messages.
• Sometimes it is impossible to send messages to a list even when you are subscribed to it: This is the case of the announcement lists, which are used to send information from a single sender to a large number of recipients.

Utility of mailing lists

People who subscribe to a mailing list (sometimes abbreviated as ML) to learn about a specific topic and to be a participant in the exchanges in this regard .Examples of this are:

• mailing lists for all employees of a company;
• a mailing list reserved for the participants of a project;
• a mailing list dedicated to the students of a class;
• a mailing list about the latest news about computer security;
• a mailing list for mutual help between repairers;
• a mailing list restricted to members of a family and dedicated to the organization of large family gatherings;
• And so on!

Types of mailing lists

There are thousands of mailing lists of all types on the Internet: public and private, free and paid, with subscription conditioned to certain rules and not, etc. These lists can have from a dozen to several thousand members.

According to how they work, we can distinguish between two types of lists :

• Ad lists , which allow subscribers to only receive messages. In fact, those messages are known as newsletters: electronic journals, daily services (horoscope of the day, the weather of the day, security alerts of the day, etc.), update notifications of a website, etc. With this type of mailing list, information goes from a single sender to a large number of receivers.
• Discussion lists , which allow all subscribers to take part in the submissions. These lists can be moderate or not:
  • In a moderate discussion list , messages are transmitted to all subscribers once they have been approved by one of the moderators on the list. Moderation is one of the qualities of the list. For example, it ensures that subscribers will not receive messages outside the topic of the list or unsolicited commercial messages (spams) or messages that contain large attachments, etc.
  • It is an unmoderated discussion list , messages are transmitted as soon as the list management robot receives them.

Functions

Once you subscribe to a mailing list, you can:

• search a mailing list according to your main interests or your particular situation;
• manage your subscriptions :
  • subscribe to lists,
  • unsubscribe from lists you subscribe to,
  • change your subscription options list by list,
  • change your general preferences , which apply the entire environment of the mailing lists (name, password, web interface language, etc.);
• use mailing lists :
  • read the online message file of the lists to which you are not subscribed , if that file is public and if your personal permissions allow you to access those lists,
  • read the file of the lists to which you are subscribed ,
  • search the files in the list ,
  • send messages to the lists to which you are subscribed,
  • download documents from the shared document space,
  • upload documents to the shared document space;
• manage mailing lists :
  • create new lists (restricted access) - subject to authorization,
  • set up the lists that belong to you,
  • manage subscriptions
  • manage the space of shared documents ,
  • moderate the lists of which you are moderator.

How the mailing list service works: roles and responsibilities

A mailing list service involves four types of roles:

• listmaster;
• owner;
• moderator;
• subscriber.

It is possible to have several roles at the same time (for example, you can be the owner and moderator of a list and be subscribed to several others).

Listmasters

The listmasters are in charge of the administration of the mailing list service . His homeworks:

• administration of the mail list server (implementation, maintenance, etc.);
• define the general guidelines of the mailing list service :
  • who will be allowed to request the creation of a new list,
  • which options will be available in the management of the list (definition of the scenario),
  • the default content of the files (creation of templates),
  • how the web interface of the mailing list will look;
• indicates how the mailing list service should be used and documents those rules in messages sent to subscribers, moderators and owners;
• approves the list creation slocitides
• temporarily replaces the owners of the list when necessary; On the other hand, listmasters should not carry out the actions of moderators

List owners and moderators can notify listmasters when they encounter a problem that is not related to documentation or comments. However, in order not to flood the listmasters with messages, it is recommended that subscribers contact the owners of the list

Owners

The owner of the list is usually its creator or, failing that, the person who has requested the creation of the list or who is responsible for it. Your role :

• defines how the list will be used ;
• write a welcome letter for subscribers;
• establishes one or more moderators ;
• manages subscriptions and unsubscriptions ;
• when it is relevant to put a shared document in the web space at the disposal of the subscribers;
• answers questions from subscribers or potential subscribers about the list;
• etc.

A list can have several owners. However, the 'Privileged' profile is reserved for the creators of the list; other creators have a 'Normal' profile, which has fewer prerogatives

Moderators

The moderators are named by the owner of the list . They are responsible for controlling the relevance of the messages sent to the list: after reading them, they choose whether to accept or reject them. . The process of moderation occurs before the message is sent. The rejection of a message is possibly associated with a notification to the sender with the intention of explaining the reason for the rejection.

A list can have one or more moderators ; Generally, the owner of the list is also moderator.

This concerns only the list moderators.