One must perform a separate search for each mailing list and for each year that such mailing list is archived. In addition, one must first know the name of the mailing list that one wishes to search. In addition to surname related lists there are regional, country, state, county, ethnic group, and topic-related lists. Do not forget to search all the years for which the list has been archived. When choosing a promising list to search, it pays to be creative and thorough.
Wonderful gems turn up in the most unlikely places.
Nevertheless, please remember that one must often mine a great deal of ore in order to find a diamond. RootsWeb's Genealogy News Vol. Please report any errors, comments or suggestions to him.