While you may rarely use meta-search engines, know that they are an option. It is also used to distribute announcements to a large number of people. A mailing list is very much like a conference on a bulletin board system, except the conversation comes to you in your e-mail box. Each time you or any member of the list posts a reply to the conversation, it is distributed to the e-mail box of every member of the list. The two most frequently used programs are Listserv and Majordomo.
Mailing lists are the most basic form of Internet conferencing.
They can be public or private and, unlike Usenet newsgroups, which require additional software to run, all you need to participate is an e-mail address. See the links listed under Special Search Tools for Listservs on our Web Indexes and Search Engines page to go to Web search sites that keep a list of Listservs. The listserv finding tools allow you to search by category or by keyword to locate e-mail discussion lists in a subject area of interest to you. Anyone can publish anything on the Web. For questions or suggestions concerning the content of these pages, contact the URMC Webmaster .