A mailing list is one of the most commonly used services on the Internet, allowing people to send messages to one or more recipients. Email was invented by Ray Tomlinson in 1972.
A mailing list is based around software called a mailing list manager (or MLM for short).
This software distributes emails to all subscribers. It must properly handle bounced emails, as well as addresses which are not responding. If a user on the list has programmed an away message, the mailing list manager and that user's email client might send messages back and forth to one another, leading to an unending chain of emails.
An MLM also responds to commands found in the subject or body of the email. Here are a few example commands which most mailing list managers understand:
The mailing list manager is generally administered by a list administrator whose job is to keep the lists in good working order and configure them as needed. Some lists may be moderated, meaning that every message shared must first be approved by a moderator to be transmitted to the list.
A list's administrator can decide if the subscribers may or may not respond to messages, if list membership is open to all. When the subscribers can reply to the list, it is called a "discussion list".
