No, it s the power of email - more specifically, the power of group discussion via an electronic mailing list. Each time a message is posted to the list address, everyone subscribed to the mailing list receives it. A thousand people could discuss a topic at one time. Many mailing lists do reach hundreds of people. In many ways, a mailing list is more like an extended conversation than it is like a meeting.
Some lists operate almost entirely without intervention.
Subscribers and sometimes non-subscribers post whatever they like. These lists can be full of surprises, some exhilirating and some exasperating. Liz Rykert and Maureen James recommend a facilitator for each list. Messages usually are archived, so that subscribers can search for previous messages, for reference. Typing in all capital letters, for instance, is regarded as the equivalent of shouting all the time.