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Re: CHAT: History of Conlang List

From:And Rosta <a.rosta@...>
Date:Wednesday, March 24, 1999, 16:55
Kristian:
> The chat thread on the earlier conlang archives made me wonder about > the first days of the list's existence. Who started the list? Who > was s/he? What was s/he? What were his/her intentions? Who were the > first subscribers? What were the first subscribers? How did they > come to know about the list? What was the first discussion? What was > the first message? Who was the first one to write a message? What > was it about? Etc. etc. etc...
I'm fairly sure I have posted a message on this topic within the last couple of years, so I will reply only briefly here. [After writing the message below, I'm even more certain that there was a whole thread on this topic.] The list was both initiated and set-up by John Ross, then a PhD student in (astro)physics somewhere in the USA. It then passed to Lars Mathieson, and then to David Durand (bless all three). John posted to sci.lang and to Tolklang asking if anyone was interested in invented languages. A small group of us (four or five, including me & Rick Harrison) emailed each other privately and then decided to set up Conlang. Of people who subscribed to that from the outset, I think only me, John Cowan & Lojbab remain subscribed. (In fact, it's one of the reasons I stay subscribed even when the traffic overwhelms my available time.) Early subscribers were interested in Auxlangs and Loglangs. I was the only artlanger, and very isolated and somewhat embattled. I don't remember the first message, alas. I used to have complete archives of early and embryonic Conlang, but someone deleted them. By the way, I think all the people named in this message deserve an entry in the Encyclopaedia of Conlanging. --And.