Re: Lost: Season 5
Todd, we have learned several things about the abductees:
1) When Ben saw the plane crash, the first thing he did was order Ethan and Goodwin to infiltrate the survivors and make lists of names. Presumably this was to determine who had survived. Meanwhile Mikhail gathered information on the survivors. From this info came Jacob's list.
2) Jacob's list only contains those who are "good". Presumably this relates to innocence/purity, as anyone with a history of violence or a criminal record is not on the list. The exception appears to be Mr. Eko - maybe because he had seemed to have repented. However, when Mr. Eko wouldn't apologise for his sins he was killed by the black smoke.
3) The Others think they are giving the abductees a "better life". They do not harm them and don't seem to be holding them against their will.
4) Other than Ethan attempting to kill Charlie, the Others have not injured or killed any of the survivors unless provoked.
Ultimately, we still don't know the purpose of Jacob's list - however, it might be incredibly simple. If it's true that Ben could never truly communicate with Jacob, then it's possible he made the whole notion of a list up. Maybe he just wanted fresh recruits for the Others - new people for him to manipulate, and children to continue his work. He might have told everyone including Richard that the people on Jacob's list were "special" when they were not.
As for why nobody is asking about the abductees... well, aside from Walt the only people to have been abducted were from the tail section (Cindy and the two kids, plus a dozen or so background folk). Bernard and Jack are the only characters left who've ever met the abductees (besides Locke, of course, but he knows they're OK). I doubt they've forgotten about them, but there's little they can do since the Others took them all to the Temple.
And as for why the Others were aggressive in the first couple of seasons... I don't actually think they were (besides Ethan, who wasn't following the plan) but I guess you could put it down to Ben's leadership. He may not kill but he obviously has no problem with inflicting pain to get what he wants.
Personally I think we'll get more answers to this in the final season, which is supposed to be all about the Others and the history of the island itself.