Index: content/content-impl/impl/src/java/org/sakaiproject/content/impl/BaseContentService.java
===================================================================
--- content/content-impl/impl/src/java/org/sakaiproject/content/impl/BaseContentService.java	(revision 41169)
+++ content/content-impl/impl/src/java/org/sakaiproject/content/impl/BaseContentService.java	(working copy)
@@ -461,6 +461,18 @@
 	{
 		return m_shortRefs;
 	}
+	
+	/** Configuration: allow use of the mail archive alias for accessing the site content */
+	protected boolean m_mailarchiveAlias = true;
+	
+	/**
+	 * Configuration: allow use of the mail archive alias.
+	 * @param value <code>true</code> then mailarchive aliases can be used in content references.
+	 */
+	public void setMailarchiveAlias(boolean value)
+	{
+		this.m_mailarchiveAlias = value;
+	}
 
 	/** Configuration: allow use of alias for site id in references. */
 	protected boolean m_siteAlias = true;
@@ -7314,7 +7326,7 @@
 
 							// for mail archive reference
 							// TODO: taken from MailArchiveService.APPLICATION_ID to (fake) reduce a dependency -ggolden
-							else if ("sakai:mailarchive".equals(targetRef.getType()))
+							else if (m_mailarchiveAlias && "sakai:mailarchive".equals(targetRef.getType()))
 							{
 								// use the ref's context as the site id
 								context = targetRef.getContext();