The original intention of the "np" business, from memory, was so that if that was something you hadn't heard about, or was curious about, you could write to the person (or the list, as has happened several times, starting new threads) and enquire about it.
If people are wanky they might be wanky about it. If people are competitive they might be competitive about it. Whatever.
Michael
Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at
http://www.eudoramail.com