We have over five years of archives for one list and no one has ever
objected to the archiving of list items (other than pleading for
embarassing faux pas to be deleted).  To the contrary, we have been
begged not to abbreviate the archives as they are a research tool,
and of historical value.
 
Our attitude is that the subscribers post to the list so that other
subscribers can read what they have to say.  We keep the archives so
that subscribers can refer back to what was said previously on a given
topic without having to save everything themselves.  But, the archives
are for reference use by subscribers only, and only for reference.
 
The originator of each item retains full copyright, which is what the
the law, as I interpret it, says.  I refuse requests from commercial
concerns who ask for web links to our notebooks as that is not what
we have them for; they are for our serious subscribers, not every
goofball out cruising the net, and not for the com sites with software
to whip through gigabytes of messages extracting addresses as they go.
 
The archives can certainly be abused (we've had a couple of instances,
that we know of).  They are restricted to subscribers, but that, as
they say, just keeps honest people honest.  The dishonest will do as
they please, just as they break into your locked house/car whenever it
suits them.
 
It's a compromise, hence fallible.  But we *want* the archives and
have gone to great lengths to keep them as complete as possible.
Never has anyone asked to be excluded from the archives (except for
the "uh-oh" postings mentioned before).  Have gotten some because
items posted to the list were used in professional journals without
permission, but that's another matter (the people didn't care about
their material being used, just wished they'd been asked first and
given the chance to revise if they wanted to).  It's another matter
as it falls under abuse of copyright and you can have that without
archives.
 
Douglas
       Douglas Winship   Hays County, Texas  [log in to unmask]
                    Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner
                              MEDLAB-L