Learn English – the appropriate preposition for “mailing list”

prepositions

I am trying to write a motivation letter and in this sentence I am not sure which preposition is appropriate for "mailing list". Would you please help me?

To clarify the case, I am subscribed to a mailing list which a John Doe used to distribute an ad about a vacancy. I am going to apply for that position and try to state that I have been informed about the position via the mailing list. This is sentence I have used: is "in" appropriate? Or should I use another preposition or another sentence structure to state that?

I was informed about this position by the ad sent by John Doe in XXX mailing list.

Thanks

Best Answer

You send parcels and letters to people. You send emails to mailing lists.

I was informed about this position by the ad sent by John Doe to the Foobar mailing list.

You would only use in if the mailing list is actually a list of people containing John Doe, and the sending of the emails to it is irrelevant. Using in here is the equivalent of:

I was informed about this position by the ad sent by John Doe, who is in the Foobar mailing list.

I suspect you mean the first, not the second, in that you saw the ad because you were following the list.

Edit (following your edit):

I was informed about the position via the Foobar mailing list.

This is perfectly good. You could also say:

I was informed about the position via John Doe's ad on the Foobar mailing list.

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