META: Another list archive?

   I've been approached by the people who run the LINGUIST list, and asked
if we would allow them to archive CONLANG on the web. We already have a
public archive at egroups.com (they used to be FINDMAIL). I think web
archives have some value,both for finding old messages, and as publicity,
but I don't feel that Egroups is necessarily dependable, since they could
go out of business at any time.

There is a problem though: the LINUGIST list has less-powerful software
than egroups.com, and cannot hide email addresses as they do. Some people
have objected vociferously to having their addresses on the web, given the
problem of spam. In my experience the spam problem has gotten a lot better
recently, even though my email address is widely available on a lot of web
sites. I mostly get spam via mailing lists that don't have subscriber
filtering turned on rather than directly.

I'd like private notifications from people who would _quit_ CONLANG
outright if we go ahead with this project (not on the list).

I know that some of you have had less-than pleasant dealings with some
people on LINGUIST, in the form of bitter theoretical debates. But we're
not talking about some kind of marriage, or merged discussion; rather, it
seems like a great source of publicity for CONLANG, in a part of the web
where conlangers (who may not even know the word yet) might well find
themselves, and then find their way to this list.

I know that finding (forming) the conlang community has been valuable to
many of us, and would like to see it grow (though I hope peak traffic
doesn't get too much higher.

Comments to the list (with subject tag META:, so they can be filtered).
Declarations of unacceptability (from those who would quit the list rather
than be archived in public) should go to me.

I don't know if email anonymizers still exist, but that would be an option
for those who feel very strongly (though we'd have to arrange those
subscriptions manually).

   -- David
_________________________________________
David Durand              dgd@cs.bu.edu  \  david@dynamicDiagrams.com
Boston University Computer Science        \  Sr. Analyst
http://www.cs.bu.edu/students/grads/dgd/   \  Dynamic Diagrams
--------------------------------------------\  http://www.dynamicDiagrams.com/
MAPA: mapping for the WWW                    \__________________________