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An electronic mailing list is a service that lets someone send one email to a single list address so it can be redistributed to multiple subscribers. Also called a mailing list or email list, it may support member discussion or simply deliver announcements and other information.
How an electronic mailing list works
A sender addresses a message to the list’s email address. A list agent receives it and redistributes it to the list’s recipients. In its explicit definition, the IETF’s experimental RFC 5983 describes a mailing list as a mechanism for distributing a message to multiple recipients by sending it to one address. The RFC was published in October 2010 and is marked obsolete by RFC 6783, so it is useful here for its definition, not as a current standard.
The list’s purpose and rules depend on how it is configured. Some lists let subscribers discuss a topic by sending messages to one another; others are announcement-only and deliver information from designated senders. A list may be moderated, but moderation is not part of the definition and is not universal.
Mailing list versus an email alias
The terms can be used loosely in everyday conversation, but they describe distinguishable behaviors. An alias expands a pseudo-mailbox into destination addresses. RFC 5321 says that alias expansion leaves the rest of the message and mail envelope unchanged. A mailing list, by contrast, operates through redistribution of a message by a list agent.
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| Behavior | Email alias | Mailing list |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to the address | The alias is expanded into its destination addresses. | A message sent to the list address is redistributed to recipients. |
| Handling | Address expansion; RFC 5321 describes the message and remaining envelope as unchanged. | A list agent handles redistribution and may provide list-specific behavior. |
| Reply destination | Depends on the mail setup; the cited RFC does not establish a universal reply rule. | Depends on the list’s configuration; replies may go to the list or an individual. |
These protocol distinctions do not guarantee that every organization uses the terms consistently or that every service implements lists in the same way.
How email software identifies a list
The List-Id header is a standardized identifier for an email distribution list. RFC 2919 specifies that it can identify the list independently of the host or list processor serving it, which can help mail clients and other software recognize or filter list messages. Not every mailing list includes this header.
Rank #2
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What the term does not imply
- It does not mean merely a saved group of email addresses: the defining behavior is sending to one list address and redistributing the message to multiple recipients.
- It does not mean only a marketing newsletter. Discussion lists and announcement-only lists are both examples.
- It does not guarantee moderation, archives, subscription commands, a particular reply destination, or use of every standardized list header.
An older IETF glossary, RFC 1392 from January 1993, describes a mailing list as email addresses used by a mail exploder to forward messages to groups of people, and notes that lists may be moderated. That is a concise glossary description, not a rule that all lists must follow.
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