BAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA...
<<Insert several hours of Maniacal Rant here>>
(Eimii takes a deep breath)
OK, enough of that...
For all those who need to know how to use the archive, it's anything but
simple. I'll assume that you want to retrive messages that were posted
recently (i.e. withing the last 4 days). This is how you do it. Send a
mail message with fanfic-request@fanfic.com as the recipient, archive as
the subject and this as the body: ls latest
When the archive returns your mail, you will get a short list of files,
most of which is completely useless. The two important parts are the Date
the files were recieved, which is easy to identify, and the file number,
the last number in the string.
Usually, the list will not include the most recent files, as the archive
trunkates the list after 500 or so entries. When this happens, take a look
atthe last date listed and the file number of that file. For example:
15 June ... 23570
Send a mail with the recipient as fanfic-request@fanfic.com, the subject
as archive, and in the body: get latest/23570
Now pray that you haven't already deleted this message. 
If, when the message is sent, you find that you have already deleted it,
a good idea would be to return to the list and look down the FIRST column
of numbers. This is the file size. Look for the most recent large file
(most likely a fic) and repeat the above procedure with it's file number.
In my experience, fics are more likely to be saved for later than, say,
spam. When you recieve the message, and you can identify about when it was
sent, then comes the tedious part. Now you must estimate the approximate
number of messages that occured between the time that this message was
sent, and the time from which you need to retrive messages. As in the
example: 
15 June 23570
I would think that between 15 june and 18 june there would be sent about
200 messages. SO you add 200 to 23570 and get file number 23770. Repeat
the file retrieval procedure detailed earlier for file 23770. If it turns
out that you already have the message, then revise your estimate from this
point and repeat the procedure until you find the exact point at which you
need to start retrieving messages. If you don't already have the message,
or the message occurs after the time in which you need to retrive,
subtract from the file number until you find the exact point at which you
would like to start retrieving messages. If the file says something to the
effect of "File not available at this time", then i have grossly over
estimated the number of messages occuring in that time period, and the
message does not exist yet. Subtract from the file number and try again.
Once you find the exact file number you want to start at, say 23794, then
send the following mail: 

recipient: Fanfic-request@fanfic.com
subject: archive
Body: 
get latest/23794
get latest/23795
get latest/23796
etc...
etc...

At this point, the procedure becomes _very_ tedious. Continue to list file
numbers in the body until you feel that you have a sufficient number. I
find thirty files at a time is easy enough to deal with. When the archive
sends you the files, look for the last file number on the list you sent.
Read this message. If it falls outside of the time period within which you
want to retrieve messages, then you're done <Whoopee>. If it dosen't, then
repeat the above procedure with the next 30 files until it does. After you
are thoruoghly sick of the archive, be sure to send the following mail: 

Fanfic-request@fanfic.com
archive
quit

Thus you ensure that the archive, should it go berserk and start spewing
massive ammounts of files, will not immediately target you as the
recipient. 
And so concludes my dictation upon the horrors of the fanfic archive. I'f
you'll excuse me...
(Eimii takes yet another deep breath.)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.....
(Having not being attention during her ranting, Eimii fails to teleport in
time to avoid the decending hyperdimentional mallet.)