Re: README: Major list change approaching
Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Sun, 12 Dec 1999 10:36:24 -0500
On Wed, Dec 08, 1999 at 01:43:03PM +0530, Sundeep Dougal wrote:
> My first thought on getting Tim's message was that surely he must have
> considered using a free service like Onelist's and perhaps ruled it
> out because of advertisements at the bottom of each message.
Yes, that and the issue of control. Any of these services can be
gobbled up by larger companies, and "free lists" might not be so free
any longer. As I probably mentioned (forgive me my forgetfulness, but I
have had a lot on my mind recently), I earn a job working with Very Big
Computers and a lot of software, and would prefer that we retain control
of the list rather than be at another company's or university's mercy.
> Recently, on another listserv, when a bunch of us wanted to make a new
> list, we first tried Onelist, and then it turned out that almost all
> the Universities allow even students to avail of their listserv
> features, and since one of them at Columbia offered to do so, we
> shifted to it almost effortlessly. I am not sure what the procedures
> are, but I am sure there'd be subscribers here who could do the same?
I mentioned that there were certainly politics and procedures that
cause the list to move, and that might apply anywhere. I could, if I
wanted, have moved the list to a new service, but, well, let's just say
that we wouldn't have the degree of control that allows this list to run
as smoothly as it does now.
> whatever way I could. Money, time, whatever help in trials that might
> be required...
Sure, join the "fake" [i.e., not in service yet] list to which I alluded
in the earlier post, and send it silly mail, try to do silly things
(like sending "subscribe bananafish" to the address
"bananafish@roughdraft.org" instead of to "majordomo@roughdraft.org") to
see if anything breaks.
That's what I'm doing, as time permits.
--tim