You can typically arrange that, when reading messages from some site other than your main one, the mail agent leaves all messages on the server, so you can read them again later from your home site. When you start your mail agent, it usually checks with the mail server to see if any new mail has arrived. Most agents can also perform this check periodically, or on command. The agent usually keeps track of which messages you've read, and which remain unread. It may give you some way to move messages from your in box to other folders.
Some agents provide ways to filter incoming mail.
Based on patterns in the header or text body, the agent can file messages in special folders, or delete them entirely. For mailing lists, the server instead finds an associated file containing a list of e-mail addresses, and forwards the message to each address on the list. Check out the very large list of publicly-accessible mailing lists and the guide to social newsgroups and mailing lists . To set up a mailing list that other people can use, use a Mailing List Service Provider or get your site to install mailing list administration software . I am guessing that you use a news reader like NetScape Communicator 4.0, which confuses people by blurring the distinction between news and mail.