It might be relevant to clarify and consider what 'list owner' means and what criteria might apply from the list provider, JiscMail. List owners are not literally owners of the list. They are managers of the list. The actual owner is its provider - JiscMail. At the top of every JiscMail list page it states its purpose: to provide email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities.

"Jisc (formerly the Joint Information Systems Committee) is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company whose role is to support post-16 and higher education, and research, by providing relevant and useful advice, digital resources and network and technology services, while researching and developing new technologies and ways of working. It is funded by a combination of the UK further and higher education funding bodies, and individual higher education institutions."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jisc)

About JiscMail, its policies and the role of list owner -

1. from JiscMail Home (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/about/whatisjiscmail.html) 

What is JiscMail?
JiscMail is the UK national academic mailing list service, provided by Jisc. Our service helps people working in education and research sectors to discuss, debate, collaborate and communicate with peers, experts and partners using mailing lists. Our mailing lists are themed around taught subjects, research areas, special interest groups and collaborative project activities.
JiscMail only hosts mailing lists which support or enhance UK academic and research sectors.

2. from JiscMail Service Policies (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/)

Introduction
JiscMail supports communication, collaboration and the free-flowing exchange of ideas through email lists primarily for the benefit of UK further and higher education and research communities.

3. from JiscMail Service Policies, (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/)

Role of list owners 
Each JiscMail list is managed by one or more individuals, referred to as list owners. List owners are volunteers working in UK academic and research communities. List owners are expected to manage their lists fairly and for the benefit of the majority of list subscribers.
List owners are specifically responsible for:
•	Setting the configuration of the list appropriately, this includes: subscription settings, reply settings, privacy settings and communicating any alterations to subscribers.
•	Setting the topic for the list and monitoring messages to ensure that they are appropriate and taking action if necessary.
•	Supporting new or inexperienced subscribers.
•	Promoting their list and managing subscriptions: adding new subscribers (see Section 3: Ethics) or removing subscribers (on request) and removing invalid emails.
•	Cascading relevant OWNERS-ANNOUNCE messages from JiscMail to subscribers when needed.
•	Keeping the list active by regularly posting messages to encourage new discussions, or taking the decision to close the list if it is no longer required. New mailing lists are expected to be used within 6 months of creation.
•	Notifying JiscMail Helpline if they are no longer able to manage their list.
•	Responding promptly to requests from subscribers, potential subscribers or helpline using the [log in to unmask] to get in touch with list owners.


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