3 Feb
1999
3 Feb
'99
3:27 p.m.
On Wed, 3 Feb 1999, Brad Ackerman wrote:
An electronic archive of this list would be an
incredibly useful research
tool for those trying to preserve old computers, given that lots of useful
information would be contained therein.
An archive of this list *is* a useful resource:
http://www.heydon.org/kevan/mlists/classiccmp/
As for spammers, munging all email addresses in the
archive would
significantly decrease the threat.
Sure, or just omit email addresses entirely. What will future researchers
care about our email addresses?
And what will future researchers care about this particular meta thread?
The archive is a Good Thing. But it raises some issues:
1) It's mostly noise. Fix: use a search engine.
2) It has no search engine. Fix: index often with altavista. Better fix:
add a local search engine *and* index with altavista.
3) Nobody new to the list knows it exists. Fix: add it to the FAQ and
list intro.
4) Nobody new to the list knows their words are being archived and
indexed. Fix: (3) above. Better fix: (3) + some user-controllable
mechanism to keep your words out of the archive.
5) Spam, retribution, etc. Fix: omit or munge email addresses.
6) Nobody has time to do any of this stuff. Fix: find a cure for sleep.
-- Doug