Issue: WATPA ListServ on the Web -- Yes or No?

Norman J. Jacknis (njacknis@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 5 Sep 1996 23:23:25 -0400

The WATPA Listserv -- mail discussion group -- was set up to allow for =
quick communications and discussions among all WATPA participants, =
including those whose schedules prevent them from attending every =
meeting.

I believe most of you know that, in addition to hosting the listserv, =
Chris Candreva has been kind enough to run the listserv discussion =
through a program which posts it all to the World Wide Web. This makes =
all of you who have participated in WATPA discussions famous -- at least =
on Alta Vista and its cousins. =20

However, this has also apparently generated some concern among some =
people, who do not necessarily want these views made available to the =
public all over the globe. (This is not true for me personally.) This =
concern has, in turn, caused some members to limit their communications, =
so that the rest of WATPA is not in the loop on important discussions. =
This development bothers me.

Although I am not particularly bothered by having the messages on the =
web, my "number one" priority with respect to the listserv is that we =
have an electronic forum to discuss matters among ALL WATPA =
participants. Thus, if members of WATPA can't write their views in a =
way they are willing to let everyone see or don't want to, then we =
should not put the listserv on the Web. =20

What do you think -- should we take the ListServ off the Web?

Regards,
Norm