The problem isn't the common name, it's the tight coupling between components. This is antithetical to the Linux philosophy, which emphasizes modularity, interchangeability, and configurability.
[0] https://groups.google.com/groups?&selm=Pine.LNX.3.91.9610161...
(I also think that those who use mailing lists should just use NNTP instead, possibly having NNTP as an alternative interface to the same data.)