It is the email address for our newish "Ixora Answers" mailing list. The way it works is that anybody can send questions to answers@ixora.com.au (or questions@ixora.com.au as before), and those questions are forwarded to a group of "helpers". Presently, I am the only helper, but in future I expect there to be others. The helpers may reply directly to the person asking the question, or may reply to the mailing list as well if the answer is of general interest. Those answers are automatically added to the archive of answers on the Ixora web site (with names, email addresses and other identifying information automatically removed).

The mailing list software also knows about another group of people called "experts". They only see questions that are referred to them by one of the helpers, but they may reply directly to the mailing list like a helper. There are plenty of genuine experts out there, some of whom work for Oracle, who are happy to help customers with real problems, but cannot afford the time to read lots of email. This way, the helpers handle most of the email, and the experts only see questions that are worthy of their attention.

The idea is that for mailing list members, Ixora Answers should prove to be a relatively low volume but high value mailing list, because the helpers will filter out all the off topic and repeat questions, and they will be backed up by some real experts. The drawback is that members will not see the questions until they have been answered, and if they have something to add, their reply will only be seen by the questioner and the helpers unless a helper forwards it to the list.

What is answers@ixora.com.au?