Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
rather than face to face with another individual, can lead to impas-
sioned arguments termed “flame wars.” The architect might con-
sider enacting a mediation function or transmission delay to reduce
this potential by allowing a cooling-off period between messages.
•
Moderated lists.
To manage content submitted to a mailing list,
particularly discussion lists, a mailing list can be configured for
moderation. E-mail messages sent to a moderated list address are
forwarded to an assigned moderator, who must approve the message
before it is retransmitted to the mailing list audience. This imposes
some delay in the relay of e-mail messages and can impose a heavy
time cost for the assigned moderator of an active list.
•
Common point of contact
.
Lists may also be used to provide a
common point of contact, such as
sales@mycorp.com,
which can
then relay customer communications to the proper individual
recipients. This simplifies routing of communications to targeted
operational recipients.
Mailing lists have several advantages over manual transmission of e-mail
to a large number of recipients. Through careful planning, an architect
can leverage this functionality to target focused audiences both within
and beyond an organizational network enterprise. Properly planned and
organized mailing lists provide additional advantages as well:
•
Stable contact.
Because the membership of a mailing list is easily
changed, mailing lists provide an opportunity to establish standard
contact points for an organization's various functions. An e-mail can
be sent to a common or easily remembered address such as
helpdesk@
somecorp.com
without requiring knowledge of the e-mail addresses of
users assigned to helpdesk response. If the mailing list application is
capable, e-mail messages sent to the common address will reroute to
different groups automatically, based on criteria such as time of day
or e-mail source. Point-of-contact lists ensure that key contact opera-
tions are not affected by changes resulting from employee turnover,
mergers and acquisitions, and disaster recovery requirements.
•
Secure identities.
E-mail messages sent to mailing lists are retrans-
mitted to each audience member without including the addresses of
other audience members. Unlike e-mail messages sent manually to
multiple recipients, each recipient can reply only to the list itself or
