Date: Thu, 8 Dec 1994 11:12:53 -0600

From: Natalie Maynor maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU

Subject: Re: An Ad and a Question



I see that there is a fair amount of sentiment against ads of any kind

on ADS-L. I won't forward any in the future. There's nothing (as of

now anyway) to prevent people from posting them directly to the list,

however. Let's hope it doesn't happen. If it does become a problem,

I guess the first step would be to change the list setting to 'send=

private', meaning that only subscribers can post to it. I'd hate to

have to do that since it would also mean that subscribers using addresses

that don't exactly match their subscription addresses couldn't post.

(Lots of people move around among different machines with different

addresses.) It also would mean that a determined advertiser could simply

subscribe to the list for long enough to send the ad. A more drastic

step would be to change ADS-L to a moderated list, an idea I am *very much*

opposed to. Among other reasons, I hate moderated lists and rarely read

mail from them. I delete 99% of the mail from Linguist, for example, unread

because I hate sudden spurts of delayed mail, especially when postings are

glued together in clumps.



CELTIC-L maintains files on the listserver computer that contain

information on subject such as celtic bookstores and language courses. I

propose that route as a solution to the ads. If retailers wants to

distribute information to list members, they can send information to the

listowner and be added to the file. Then when members want information

on products, they can get the file. This would entail people learning

just a bit about listserver database commands, but it is not hard at all.



ADS-L doesn't have any space at UGA for listserv files. But don't forget

that we have ftp, gopher, and http files available. I don't anticipate

the need for adding a section for ads, but I'm using this as a reminder of

the existence of our files: ftp.msstate.edu (pub/archives/ads), gopher.

msstate.edu (something like "Resources" on first menu, then top of next

menu), and http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/ADS/). Please send suggestions

at any time for additions or improvements.

--Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)