Thanks for your suggestions. These are helpful. I would look for a better design or some kind of improvement that won't disturb the typical workflow of the majority and look nicer. If you have a cool design in mind, I would love to work on it.
I think if we were to invest in anything around "linking" in the message archives, it would be towards making it easier for folks to figure out how to subscribe to a mailing list.
Could you please describe the above point a bit? A solid example would be helpful.