One of the reasons I really like Google Groups is that it lets me treat something as a mailing list. By and large, I want to use an email client for serious discussions, not a 'forum' thing. Adding this functionality would be super cool.
Moot is primarly meant for websites and the goal is to keep discussion and the users on the site. This will make users come back and potentia.ly increase traffic on the site.
> the goal is to keep discussion and the users on the site. This will make users come back
Back when I first got online and only had one forum I was interested in, this was true - but it really doesn't scale. Trying to keep up with even 3 active forums by visiting each in turn is painful. Since then, I've pretty much ignored any information source that doesn't have either RSS or email feeds, since I can multiplex hundreds of those with no problem :P
(For a more average-joe version of this, note how facebook has largely replaced independent forums and IRC - people are lazy, and going out of their way to check an external site on a daily basis is much more work than clicking a "like" button and having that site's news become part of their standard routine)
You are absolutely right hence these forums are going to constantly suffer, or they'd be taken in by marketers trying to make a buck over filthy Ads. I don't think people can have serious discussions on such forum platforms who try to appeal to everyone equally.
