Each Email List is a valid email address that can be used from anywhere on the Internet - the same way your own personal email address is used. The power of this approach comes from the fact that members only need to remember a single address to reach many people. Also, the people on the list may change over time but the email address remains the same.
The following is a sequence of events for how Email Lists are used
- A member opens their email client
- A new email message is opened
- They type the Email List address (i.e. committee@) into the To field of the new message
- They complete their message and click the send button
- The messages travels over the Internet to our servers
- We validate that the email address the message is sent from is authorized to send email to the list
- If the email address is authorized, the message goes through
- If the email address is not authorized but is a list member, they receive a non authorized return message
- If the email address is not authorized and is not a list member, the message is discarded and no return email is sent. This is to protect against SPAM.
- Our servers apply the Email List settings to the email message - see Return Address Types
- Our servers forward the email message to each email address for List Members of the list
- Any undelivered or bounce messages are sent to the List Owner
