Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 11:01:00 +0900

From: Daniel Long dlong[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JOHO.OSAKA-SHOIN.AC.JP

Subject: Re: Archiving Question



Natalie Maynor wrote:



I would like to retract my former proposal that we make our list archives open to this company, for

two reasons. One is that I have read Natalie's last two messages and she told me exactly the kinds

of information I had requested, and I understand the reasons for her "no" now. The other is that I

don't want to increase her work load (by making this a monitored list, etc.). I have just started a

home page at the Japanese Language Research Center where I work (plug! plug!) and for the last week

or so I have averaged two email questions a day (about Japanese linguistics, etc.) from people in the

U.S., Australia and (today) the Channel Islands. (I'm the moron who put the part on our home page

that says "contact us", so I got nobody to blame, but me.) So I'm realizing a LITTLE bit of the work

Natalie has to do.



I wonder if I could float one more suggestion and then I'll shut up. Is there any way we could hook

up some kinda search engine tool of our own directly to the archives, so that WE could search them

from the home page? That's all I want, is to be able to search those (ever-growing) archives. This

might even in the end cut down on having to discuss the same topics over and over, cause we

questioners could start by looking in the archives first.



Danny



In my rush to move from computer to shower to car to campus while ago,

I don't think I ever finished answering Danny's questions.



I'll make the end of the story of the history of the list brief: The

end of the story is that Bill and I decided that night at SAMLA that we

could try sort of a compromise -- that ADS-L could be an open list but

that we wouldn't announce its creation in all the usual places like

NEWLIST-L. As I mentioned earlier, it has been picked up by various

index-compilers through the years since then, but so far there haven't

been any problems. I think it's good to have some non-ADS members on

ADS-L, especially since some of them get interested enough to join ADS.



As for what Danny said about the availability of the list archives

right now, it's true that they're sitting there on the web for anybody

who wants to read them (all except the first year of the list's life,

for which we have no archives). They're also available via gopher and

anonymous ftp. Although I didn't read the announcement about the new

search tool carefully, I think our inclusion in the lists it covers would

bring attention some of you might not like. Because Words-L is gatewayed

to usenet, its discussions are included in DejaNews, the web search tool

for usenet articles. (There's a way an individual can create headers to

stay out of DejaNews, btw, although sometimes that person is quoted in

list replies of people who have not created the headers to stay out of it.)

A web cruiser hunting for the famous net porno sometimes stumbles upon

Words-L because somebody might use the word "fuck." The net cruiser

might decide to hang around the list or might send direct mail to the

poster of the "fuck" message -- regardless of how the word might have

been used (e.g., it might have been used in a discussion of male/female

differences in language use or whatever). We were once discussing on

Words-L the distribution of the terms "underpants" versus "panties."

I said something on that topic and ended up getting e-mail from a couple

of weirdos who found it via DejaNews, weirdos who wanted to discuss

underpants, not dialectal variation.



And this reply is also getting too long. I need to get ready for my

8:00 class. I think I've said enough to indicate why I personally

don't think ADS-L wants to be involved with the new archiving tool.

But what I personally think on this topic doesn't matter. My very

strong philosophy on "list ownership" is that the list owner takes

care of mechanical matters only and does not try to exert any kind

of "control."

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



--

Daniel Long

Japanese Language Research Center

Osaka Shoin Women's College

4-2-26 Hishiyanishi

Higashi-Osaka-shi, Osaka Japan 577

tel and fax +81-6-729-1831

email dlong[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]joho.osaka-shoin.ac.jp