i've researched the mailing list issue a little.
the [listhandler module doesn't work in drupal 4.3|http://drupal.org/node/view/4985](scroll down to "listhandler does currently no"), so i'd have to upgrade to 4.4. and that link direction reveals a problem. the replies to a node aren't individually referenceable. this might be resolved with a theme, but it's not a feature out of the box.
looking around drupal.org some more brings me to [another discussion|http://drupal.org/node/view/6621] mentioning a [mail2forum|http://m2f.sf.net] project which does nice (complete?) integration of lists with phpbb fora. this brings up another issue: using best-of-breed apps. [from the looks of it|http://www.phpbb.com/styles/forum/viewtopic.php?t=192127&style=68], phpbb is a much better forum engine than the one in drupal.
