answer:The basic premise is that everyone who is interested signs on to the list, and when people send to the list address, everyone on the list gets that email and can reply either to the list or to the poster. In addition, they are often archived, so that past list messages can be searched. So, to answer your questions in order— Messages have a timestamp on them, because all email messages have a timestamp. If your mailreader supports threading, it can display related messages together, ordered by when they arrived. The best guide on how to ask smart questions I’ve ever seen is Eric Raymond’s “How to Ask Questions the Smart Way,” here:
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html—I can’t add anything to it, and it’s all worth reading. And who sees the question? Everyone subscribed to the list. Many may delete it, but they all have the chance to see it.