People wanting to join a discussion group would send a message to the sponsor, who would then add the individual's address to the group's mailing list. Similarly, when users wanted to contribute an article or posting to the list, they would send their contributions to the sponsor. The sponsor would then forward the postings to the other members of the mailing list. This concept became so popular, both in terms of the number of lists supported and in the number of participants, that sponsoring lists soon became a very time-consuming responsibility. Since all of the above can be done via e-mail, it is possible to decentralize the administration of discussion lists.
Lists can be public or private , open versus closed, moderated or unmoderated .
There can be one central list owner , or the responsibilities can be shared amongst several people, each having equal or varied levels of access. You will need this information later, when you want to postpone messages during a holiday, find out who else subscribes to the list, etc. Of course, the list owner's address is different depending on the list, so you should check the information that is provided upon subscription to find out the correct location. The mechanisms used are different, but the effect is the same. Listserv List Owner's Survival Guide .