It sounds so perfect: you can post your snarky comments to the mailing list without having to really be subscribed. Just use this handy form!
It turns out that Gmane has two rigid limits in its posting form: (1) lines can't be longer than 80 characters and (2) you can't have "too much" quoted material in your reply. These aren't warnings, mind you, they're imposed limits that prevent the mail from being submitted.
And it now appears that it also mangles subject lines containing quotation marks.
So much for that noise. I've properly subscribed now. Apologies for the foul-up.
MZMcBride