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Generally speaking, is there any difference between saying "in a list" vs. "on a list"?

There's already a similar question, but that was about one specific example with a specific answer; if possible, I'd like to know if there's a general rule or if there are situations where one form would be preferred over the other.

Examples:

"to be in the list" vs. "to be on the list"

"to save in the list" vs. "to save on the list"

"to put in the list" vs. "to put on the list"

etc.

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mguassa
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    Hello, mguassa. What research have you yourself done? These are all Googlable, and ripe for Google Ngram analyses. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 01 '15 at 22:37
  • Although that question was more specific than yours, I think the answers generalize to yours as well. Why do you think the answers there are only relevant to that use? – Barmar Jul 01 '15 at 23:52
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    This comes up often here; this explains the usages. Turns out it all depends on how you think of the list -- 3-dimensional information stash or 2-dimensional paper/screen dump. – John Lawler Jul 02 '15 at 02:11
  • @JohnLawler Thank you, that's the best answer I could read on the topic, I've never thought to see it in that way. Answer and comment upvoted! – mguassa Jul 02 '15 at 17:38

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