Moderators do not act as censors but rather as filters to remove unwanted emails such as private replies, unsolicited advertising, offensive messages and so on. On some lists you may receive just one or two messages a week from the group. Others can be very large and you might feel a bit overwhelmed by the dozens or more messages you receive everyday. Many of the larger lists provide an option to receive a 'digest' of the list, that is, a collation of all the messages posted during a particular period or that fill a specified message length. This way, you will only receive one or two messages each day containing all the latest messages.
Members can usually choose for themselves what type of service they receive.
Mailing list messages are public and legal documents which are easily archived, copied and forwarded to others. In addition, offensive or irrelevant comments will often see you removed from a list. Do read at least one of the many documents available on the web about Netiquette, such as the Netiquette home page , to help you get along with others on your mailing list. If you decide that the list isn't for you after all, you can easily leave either via email or by filling in a form on the mailing list's website.