Re: CCHAT: History of the conlang list

Nik Taylor wrote:

> I'd go with it's establishment as an actual listserv - March 24, 1993
> according to John Cowan.  So, still a few years to go.  Either that or
> July 18, 1991, since that was when the alias was set up.
I think that all these changes of state were just transpositions to
a new medium, and that the Platonic essence of conlang was present
from the June 1991 beginning.

> (Question:
> What precisely is an alias in this context, and how does it differ from
> a proper listserv?)
<div level="geek">

An alias is just a mailing address that's expanded by the receiving mail
software into several other addresses.  For example, if you send mail to
webmaster@reutershealth.com, the mail is not placed in a webmaster mailbox
(which does not even exist) but instead is sent to jcowan@reutershealth.com and
several other real mailboxes.  Aliases are easy to set up, but have
quality control problems.  Bounces from bad addresses, for example, tend
to get sent either to everybody on the list, or else to the authors of
messages.  Furthermore, aliases have to be maintained by hand, usually
by a system administrator.

A listserv is a program which receives mail at a given address and maintains
its own list of members.  The mail is actually retransmitted to each member
on the list by the program.  In this way, bounces come to the listserv
program, which can suppress them or inform a list owner about them.
Listservs also can typically be administered by email, and nowadays by
the Web as well.  Typical listserv programs are Listserv proper, Majordomo,
and of course OneList/Egroups.

</div>

--

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)