Dear Listers,
thanks for all your comments. We had a vote last year where we decided
to proceed with moderation. Since then I have been trying to get going
on this project. There has been a great and sometimes flamboyant
discussion, then and now, as whether to moderate or to leave as is.
I have been working on yet another alternative to try to make everybody
happy: how about a separate mailing list that people can subscribe to ?
The way I will set up this mailing list is that every message that the
moderators approve will appear on this list sans spam and everybody
subscribed will receive the "approved" post to bionet.microbiology by
e-mail. Similarly, peoples' post to the mailing list will be redirected
to the BIONET.MICROBIOLOGY newsgroup. In my opinion this is the best
solution for both sides. People who don't mind the occasional unrelated
message can proceed "as is" with rapid dissemination of information via
the newsgroup, while people who do not want to receive unrelated
messages should subscribe to the new mailing list and may have to wait
a few hours until the post is released. This way I expect everybody
will be happy, and we do not have to make a sacrifice one way or
another.
I have donated a computer and software to run the list, and will need
to do some testing to make sure the set-up and software is
bullet-proof. Since the copyright of messages in our newsgroup is with
the owner, I do not foresee any copyright issues by setting up this
mirror, but I guess I will have to clear this with BIONET before the
final go-ahaed.
Please watch this group closely for announcements concerning the
mailing-list mirror.
Sincerely,
Martin
BIONET.MICROBIOLOGY discussion leader
