[Tim Hunter]

(irony: i had to pull Brigitte's original note off the archives site...)

Hi folks, your generally negligent list administrator here.  I just skim
the list myself (if that) these days, so apologies for not replying to this
earlier.

I was somewhat pleased when the list software got switched to Mailman,
because it (a) means I can spend even less time with administrative trivia
and (b) it keeps the archive that I've now learned even the Oil's own site
links to.  The list is about 12 years old now -- I've always wanted to
compile all the random collections of messages I have together into a
comprehensive archive (of dubious value, perhaps), and at least this starts
the work.

I'm not entirely worried about the list content being available on the web.
When you send the list email, you throw your words out to the world -- you
don't have any control over who reads them, and the list has always been
"open admission".  With the content on the web, it's easier for your
message to achieve "permanence", but that note you wish you hadn't sent to
the list five years ago is still on one of my data tapes, and probably on a
few others.  Perhaps you hadn't realized that before you posted.  Perhaps
because you realize it now you'll never post again.  I'm sorry if that's
the case, but I think it's more realistic to say what I've said than to try
to restrict access to the archives.

That being said, I would prefer if the archives (and perhaps even the
messages to the list) did not list people's email addresses.  I'm well
aware of the problem of spam -- never mind that my address has been on the
web for 12 years.  I currently work for an ISP -- a big spam attack can
keep me in the office working when I should be in the pub.

I did a quick check and the list software doesn't seem to offer this option
out of the box.  I'll make some inquiries and see if it can be configured
elsewhere -- it's been quite a while since I worked at colorado.edu, so
anything over and above what is offered out-of-the-box gets done by the
good graces of people whose job descriptions don't include lists like this.

And apologies for the completely non-MO content.

tim

PS: Midnight Oil content -- anybody know if the Oils have ever made it to
    Dublin?  Something tells me I'm going to have to venture onto the
    continent to see them this tour...

PPS: That message you wish you hadn't sent five years ago?  Actually, the
     one person who kept it happens to be your arch-enemy.  When you
     finally run for the senate, he's going to hand it to a newspaper
     reporter two weeks before the election.  Curses!  Foiled again...

PPPS: By "you", I'm not talking about anybody in particular.  (yes, i'll
      stop now)

 #  From: Brigitte Mounier bmounier@sympatico.ca 
 #  Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 07:17:22 -0400 
 #  
 #  Holy smokes!
 #  
 #  I had not realized that the Powderworks link, on the official MO 
 #  site, displays an archive of the posts!!!
 #  Meaning that not only our words go into posterity, but that 
 #  non-workers can now follow the gist of our wanderings.
 #  I'm not sure i like that.
 #  Is it the end of spontaneity and the beginning of self-censure?
 #  
 #  (Obviously not if I judge on the latest..)
 #  
 #  Brigitte