Does anyone know if this mail list is still active?
I tried to mail to it, but it got returned.
Yes the matra-cars-forum is still active. If your email was returned, you probably tried to send from an email address different to the one you registered with. You must only use your registered address to mail to the forum. Also you must not send emails with attachments, like many do here. And since many email programs are incorrectly set by default to send in html, or with html attachments, these will be rejected too. Emails should be text only. This is all in the original explanations about using the system, but of course many people never read things like instructions, manuals, etc. :-)
In answer to another post about why use it, and why not just use this forum, well it depends on a number of things. With this forum, for instance, you have to log on and then select the area you want to read, then trawl through lots of topics, etc. Some people don't have the time or inclination to do this or not on a regular basis. And if you don't visit this forum for a day or two, there are so many new post it can mean spending a lot of time catching up.
Also importantly, if you are awaiting an answer from a specific persion, with this forum you will have to wait until they log on again and see your question, unless you also email them directly. With the matra-cars-forum, they will get your question as soon as they download their email and can respond straight away. This is surely much better?
With the matra-cars-forum, which I personally prefer, once you have registered, you don't have to do anything other than collect your emails regularly. Don't forget this came about when most, if not everyone, was on dial-up connections, which were slow, and you didn't want to stay on-line longer than necessary as it tied up your phone line and cost money. Even though I now have broadband I still collect my emails once a day in one connection, and do not have them downloading all the time. I then spend a little time reading through them and answering those I decide to, when I wish.
With this forum, you have to be on-line to both read and write any replies, which means you can only be on broadband as no-one would want to tie up a dial-up connection for such a long time.
So with the matra-cars-forum, if there are any posts to it, these are automatically sent to you as emails, which you will download when you choose to collect your emails. Then you can read and answer any you want to answer, in your own time, and whilst 'off-line'. When you next connect, your posts or replies will be uploaded to the forum just like emails. The fact that they don't get posted immediately means you can review them, correct them, or even delete them before sending, saving you from making visible and potentially embarrasing mistakes! A few times I have had to come back and make corrections here! I find the matra-cars-forum is a much easier system overall requiring less effort.
The choice is yours.
Roy