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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

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  • So, it's enough to say:"I was informed about this position by the ad sent by John Doe to the xxx mailing list.".By the way, you may consider accepting Lunivoure's answer. And I wish you good luck with your probably new job. ;) – mok Aug 31 '14 at 13:19
  • "sent ... through" Although, a good rephrasing of the sentence may be a better idea. – Kris Aug 31 '14 at 13:22
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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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  • I have subscribed in the mailing list, John had sent the ad to all people who have subscribed to that mailing list. – Moh Aug 31 '14 at 13:07
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    You subscribe to mailing lists as well (not in). – Lunivore Aug 31 '14 at 14:00
  • Talking about your final suggestion: I was informed about the position via the Foobar mailing list. Are you sure 'the' is correct for Footbar. I doubt it because Foobar is a proper noun. – Moh Sep 1 '14 at 11:34
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    I am on the BDD mailing list, the "Lonely Coaches Sodality" mailing list and the "Sheep and Cheese" list, amongst others. The "Foobar" becomes an noun adjunct (used to be called an adjectival noun, so it's a noun which describes another noun). The "the" goes with the word "list", so I believe it stays in the presence of the adjective. Similar examples: "Isn't that the James Bond car over there?" and "I was thinking about the Moby Dick example you gave in the last question." In this case both James Bond and Moby Dick are proper nouns too. – Lunivore Sep 1 '14 at 16:24

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