Posted by
GregChapman on
Dec 03, 2015; 9:22am
URL: https://support.nabble.com/show-hidden-email-tp7590482p7596202.html
Hi Kurt,
As its name suggests a "mail list" is a list of addresses to which an email can be sent. Mail list technology on the Internet pre-dates the world wide web by a good margin.
While it is practical for an individual to Cc: an email to a small group of addresses and everyone in the group maintain the list of those who want to be included, if the list becomes popular then it becomes impractical, or impossible, for the list to be maintained accurately by all in the group.
As a result the Mail List server was invented, a program that maintains a database of addresses. To add your address to the database you would send an email to the server using a special "subscribe" address and similarly, you'd use an "unsubscribe" address to leave the group. After subscribing any message sent to the main mail list address would be distributed to all other subscribers.
The problem with a mail list is that a new subscriber cannot see past messages. This often led to long standing subscribers receiving messages asking the same questions over and over again, so it became popular for list managers to issue monthly mailings containing rules of conduct for subscribers and answers to "Frequently Asked Questions" (the origin of the term "FAQ" on the Internet).
With the development of the world wide web another solution to the FAQ problem was to create a site that displayed past postings. Nabble provides such a service and this is useful for those mail list servers that still don't offer a convenient way to inspect old messages posted on the list.
I assume you are talking about the Nabble "forum" at:
http://robotics-worldwide.1046236.n5.nabble.com/If you read the top of the page there it says:
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This forum is an archive for the mailing list robotics-worldwide@usc.edu (more options) Messages posted here will be sent to this mailing list.
This nabble forum is only an archive of the robotics-worldwide real mailing list. To subscribe to the real robotics-worldwide real mailing list go to
http://duerer.usc.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/robotics-worldwide
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That last address takes you to a page where you can subscribe to the actual list on the web, rather than using a special email address. Visit the archives link on that page and you'll understand why an archive facility like Nabble is so useful.
Note that only by subscribing to the real list will any post you make at the Nabble archive be forwarded to the real list and then appear on the Nabble archive for all to see. One mail list FAQ you see on this forum is where people have not subscribed to the main/real list and ask why Nabble is holding their post as "pending".
Volunteer Helper - but recommending that users move off the platform!
Once the admin for GregHelp now deleted.