Basic Information on Mailing Lists

If you are new to the world of Internet mailing lists, you should read the following carefully. The wrong effort at subscribing to a list can send an annoying post to all the people involved in the list rather than get you a subscription! And that can get you lots of indignant "flame" from irritated recipients.

Also, listservers can really stuff your mailbox fast, so watch your incoming e-mail. You may wish to "unsubscribe" when you're not on campus to avoid being "drowned"!

The commentary below was written by William Starbuck, . My thanks to Bill for this and other useful information on lists he has shared with me. --MB

Most of the [mailing list] networks depend on Listserver software that allows participants to subscribe without contacting anyone and to unsubscribe similarly. To subscribe or unsubscribe, you would send an e-mail message to a Listserv program. The Listserv program then adds your name to its mailing list. For example, to join the International Management Division's network, you would send an e-mail message to

This message would say 'subscribe' then name the network and give your name

To unsubscribe, you would send a similar message that begins 'unsubscribe'. Of course, if you have difficulty, you can contact the person who is managing the network. (Computers in the United Kingdom use Mailbase software rather than Listserv software. Mailbase works like Listserv except that one says "join" and "leave.")

Listserv programs respond to various commands besides subscribe or unsubscribe. To get a list of the commands for a specific listserv program, address a one-word message to the listserv program. The message should say only "help".

To send messages to the people who subscribe to a list, you send messages to the network's e-mail address, not to the Listserv program. For example, to send a message to everyone who subscribes to the IMD-L list, you would address the message to

Any message you send to the network's address goes out to everyone who participates in the network. If you want to send a message to just one person, you should address it to that person's e-mail address, not to the network's address.