In case the answer would be of interest, the answer appears to be that this is 
a feature of Firefox, and if you Enable the "Change status bar text" from the 
Tools->Options, Content, Advanced button for Java/JavaScript, that text will at 
least show up in the bottom of the browser window.

 > When using Firefox, no text pops up over the buttons in the message archive
 > web pages.  The text DOES popup over the buttons on the list management web
 > pages.

 >  Anybody know a trick to get the text to show for Firefox?
 > Obviously turning it off is an option, but just in case somebody has noticed
 > this and has a trick I thought I would ask.

Randy