A public list is open to anyone with an interest in the list subject. Private lists can be joined by meeting the criteria of the list. Lists also come in two types. The first is an announcement list in which you receive announcement messages but cannot post to the list. The second type is a discussion list in which everyone posts and participates.
Every list has an administrator or moderator.
After you subscribe, the adminstrator will e-mail you details and instructions about the list. It is usually a good idea to save these instructions as the directions for unsubscribing are included. Volume on a list can range from one or two e-mail messages a day to over 100 messages a day. If you are unsure of the volume level of a particular list, subscribe in digest mode until you are sure you can handle the volume of individual e-mail. Digests are usually mailed after a set number of individual messages have been set or at a set time on a daily basis.