Everyone likes belonging to a special club or organisation where you can freely discuss your favourite hobbies and activities. The Internet provides thousands of free virtual clubs available to anyone with online access and an email program to join.
Mailing lists have been around the Internet almost since it began. They are a terrific way for people with a common interest to get together and exchange ideas and news. There are mailing lists that cover just about any subject under the sun. Lists can be very formal or informal depending on the main topic. You can join (subscribe to) the list at any time and drop out at any time.
One of the reasons you might have got hooked up to the Internet was the handy way of using email to keep in touch with friends and relatives. But, there's another way you can use email to correspond with other people who have interests the same as you - mailing lists.
How do they work?
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Basically, all mailing lists work the same way: Any messages sent to the list manager that are intended for the list members get delivered to every member on the list in their mailbox. When a member of the list logs onto the Internet with their email program, the list messages are delivered just like any other email. In other words, if you send a message to the list, everyone who is subscribed to receive messages from the list, will get them. |
What You'll Need
Because mailing lists are conducted using email, joining and participating in
a mailing list requires nothing more than your current email application. If
you are using any email program now to communicate with friends and relatives
you're all set up.
Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer suites both contain a decent email client as part of the package. So, if you're using these, they'll work just fine for mailing lists. Any email program such as Eudora or Outlook will be sufficient for you to join mailing lists.