Owners

What does a mailing list manager do?

A mailing list manager takes most of the tedium out of maintaining and sending to electronic mailing lists by making list maintenance easier, by automatically dealing with many delivery errors and by providing a single e-mail address for each list.

Mailing lists can be specially configured for document dispatch, discussion, announcements, etc., so they can be used to announce meeting dates and to dispatch meeting documents or to circulate drafts of a document for editing or comments. Groups already using the ETSI server for exchanging documents can use the mailing list manager to inform interested parties when a new document is available.

Because electronic mail is delivered in a matter of minutes, electronic mailing lists can do a lot more than supplement the traditional one-way paper distribution. In some cases, an electronic mailing list can replace a meeting or conference call. What before might have been an expensive and time consuming exchange of views can now become an ongoing conference. People who are interested can participate without leaving their desk and someone who is not available when the discussion starts can easily catch up and contribute later, so the discussion need not start and end at pre-defined times. Even when a meeting is more suitable, the electronic mailing list can prove a powerful tool for discussing the issues beforehand. And, when the meeting is over, it can be used to distribute a summary of the discussion and the decisions that were made.

Only one central copy of each list is maintained for the use of each member. If the list is configured for discussion, you can communicate with everyone on a list by sending a message to a single e-mail address. The mailing list manager software automatically forwards the messages to everyone else on the list. It is up to each subscriber to ensure that the central list has their correct e-mail address.

The mailing list manager software can recognise and deal with many e-mail delivery messages, for example by putting a particular e-mail address on hold if it repeatedly causes problems.

Your list can be totally open to the public or a closed list that only the subscribers are aware of. Each list can be configured separately. In summary ETSI can use the mailing list manager to -

- allow effective and timely discussion of issues

- replace paper dispatch of documents

- reduce the duration, frequency and attendance at meetings

- inform colleagues of updates to the ETSI server