For novices i think it is difficult to read these mailing lists.
I think that it would be an idea to have the mailing lists archived to google groups (which i believe is possible)
If you are worried about the possibility of spam etc we could set the group to announce, so it is viewable on google groups but to reply users must sign up in usual way. It would then just be like a mirror of this groups messages but more easily viewed.
Just a suggestion
Thanks
George