John,
Great to hear you have got things set up for a new Sinclair mailing
list! If you could maybe send me a copy of the welcome file and/or
help file, that would be appreciated. I guess I won't otherwise get
the welcome file since you set up my subscription directly at your
end. I will put information on subscribing to the list on my web
site, including a copy of the welcome and help files. I can also set
up a form that visitors can use to subscribe, unsubscribe, get help
file, etc., if you authorize me to do that. Sometimes that is a lot
easier for folks than having to figure out the commands and who to
send them to. Before I do anything, I will double check with you to
make sure it is authorized and that I have got it straight before
putting up a form that is wrong.
Let me also ask you if you think it would be appropriate if I set up
my Guest Book to forward all entries there to the mailing list? I
have roughly 3-4 posts a week I would guesstimate. Typically they are
one or two paragraphs in length and include a quick description of
family heritage and ask any questions they might have. Some are of
the variety, "Glad to find so many Sinclairs out there" without any
substance. I have not yet had an entry that was objectionable in tone
or language. I could put a "bad words" filter on the posts if that
would alleviate a concern about foul language finding its way to the
mailing list via an automated routine like that. Right now, I don't
have that kind of a screen in the perl script that is running the
book but it is simple enough to implement.
I could easily configure the Guest Book so that entries would be
forwarded to the list with some type of notice at the top to reflect
that it is coming from a non-subscriber to the list, or whatever type
of notice might be appropriate. I would have to set up an account in
your list configuration such as "Guest Book" or something of that
nature that would show up as the "From:" header so as to be accepted
by the majordomo. I would also need to advise people signing the
Guest Book that entries are being directed to a mailing list so they
would be aware of that.
My thought is that the entries to the guest book might be another
source of information for people on the mailing list. Also, it would
allow people signing the Guest Book to reach a larger audience then
they otherwise might.
Let me know your thoughts on that idea. I won't do it if you think it
is a poor use of the mailing list. We could watch it for awhile and
see if it is disruptive or intrusive and stop it if it is. Just let
me know what you think.
Great work - glad you have got things going! It will be interesting
to see how it develops.
Best regards,
Paul Sinclair
--- Original Message of John S. Quarterman (12:15 PM 12/18/97 -0600)---
>Paul, et al.,
>
>>It was good to see your note on this subject in my mailbox today. I
>>was really glad to hear the continuing interest in pursuing this! As
>>I mentioned in our email a few weeks back this was something that I
>>was planning to set up and would be happy to do it but certainly
>>claim no vested interest in the idea.
>
>It's an idea that's been going around for some time.
>My main interest is just to get it done so we don't have
>so much duplication of effort as we've been having with the
>various smaller lists.
>
>I've set up the list, and this message is going to sinclair@mids.org.
>
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