Dear List Owners:
 
     I want to thank the dozens of you who
     responded to some questions I posed to
     this list for an article about mailing
     lists in academe that was published in
     the Nov. 2 Chronicle of Higher Education.
 
     I can send photocopies of the article to those
     who want them. Just send me a snail-mail address.
 
     In researching that article, I became interested
     in the issue of how list owners govern. I heard
     from some people who said they had been tossed off
     of lists because of political differences with the
     list manager.  The Chronicle has recently had two of its reporters
     tossed off of lists after they telephoned people to
     pursue stories about what they said on the lists.
     The listowners said that reporters did not belong and would
     inhibit discussion.
 
     These were not private lists, but ones with open, automated
     subscription mechanisms.
 
     My questions have to do with how much power list owners
     should rightfully possess?
 
     What are your policies about who gets to be on a list?
 
     Do you consider them private places or public places where
     journalists and ideological opponents may lurk?
 
     If you think of them as private places, why not create a
     private list for people with specified credentials rather
     than keeping them open to everyone except journalists
     and those you've identified as enemies?
 
     Are there any checks and balances or appeals
     processes that someone can use to try to stay
     on the list after you've decided they should go?
 
     If you are operating your list on a university-owned
     computer, does your computer center have rules about
     whether your lists must be public?
 
     I imagine that the types of incidents that
     I've described here are pretty rare and that most of
     you have never had to confront these issues.
     Nevertheless, I'd like to hear your thoughts
     are about how you might handle them.
 
     Thanks for your help.
     Sincerely,
Thomas J. DeLoughry
Senior Editor for Information Technology
The Chronicle of Higher Education
1255 23rd Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
[log in to unmask]
ph: 202-466-1061
fax: 202-296-2691