Differences and interactions between subscribe, lists, group, alternates and alias.

[boB Stepp]

The current ongoing thread about lists and subscribe have led to my email.  I
don't think I am understanding the differences and interactions to these
different Mutt configuration possibilities.

 From the other thread if I am understanding correctly for those mailing lists
that I am subscribed to and actively participating in in real life, it is to my benefit to set these up with
setting subscribe for each such list.  For these lists there is no point in my
using the lists configuration option.  If I a just following a list, then
using lists configuration option is probably more appropriate.

As to the group option I was under the impression that I could give a nice
shortcut name and assign a list of email addresses to it and then use it as an
alias.  But that does not appear to be the case.  For instance I had forgotten
to explicitly subscribe to Mutt-Users, so today added to my muttrc:

subscribe -group Mutt-Users mutt-users at mutt.org

and had the expectation that since I used "-group", I could type "Mu" and hit
<Tab> in the "To:" field and get the Mutt-Users address inserted.  I was sadly
mistaken!  I had to explicitly add

alias Mutt-Users <mutt-users at mutt.org>

to my aliases file before that would occur.  So I am not seeing how to use
"group".  Can someone explain please?  BTW, typing "Mu" into the "To:" field
and then hitting <Tab> does *not* fill in the email address; instead, it
brings up a browser view where I have to hit <Enter> before the address is
inserted.  Is there a way, when there are no conflicting "Mu" entries, to just
*immediately* have hitting <Tab> insert the address?

I haven't done it yet, but what I would like to do is have different groups
that I can type a shortcut and have all the email addresses inserted.  For
instance, I would like to have a group "Kids" which when typed would
auto-expand into my kids' email addresses.  Also, I would like to be able to
type in abbreviations like "Jess" and have that expand to my daughter's email
address.  How would I go about doing this without having a browser view come
up with numbered entries?

And from reading the Mutt manual I have encountered the alternates option, but
now I am not sure what it is useful for and how to most effectively use it.

I think that sums up most of my current head scratching.

-- 
Wishing you only the best,

boB Stepp