**** MAY-DAY !!! MAY-DAY !!! GOING DOWN !!! GOING DOWN !!! ****
 
Before I got my Internet-account at home I was subscribing to
[log in to unmask] via my work. This mailing-list focusses on
Acorn-related issues. As I only had E-mail facilities I soon discovered
that I was missing out on an enormous bulk of information. You have to
know that the traffic on ACORN-L is as low as it can get. The occasional
posting on this mailing-list is outweighed by the daily flood of
articles posted to the comp.sys.acorn.* hierarchy. At that time I was
sure that I could not be the only Acorn user who was missing out on all
this information.
 
When I gained my Internet access at home I decided to learn from
experience and try and help my fellow Acorn users. I wrote the
application !MailList initially for this purpose: "To set-up a number of
mailing-lists which would distribute the comp.sys.acorn.* NewsGroups to
those Acorn-enthusiasts who are without access to NetNews."
 
Approximately a year ago the mailing-lists where launched. During the
first half of 1995 the hierarchy changed and the mailing-lists changed
with it. Now there are 8 mailing-lists distributing Acorn-related
newsgroups to E-mail:
 
        Mailing-list    NewsGroup                 Subscribers
        -----------------------------------------------------
        cs-arm          comp.sys.arm                    33
        csa-ann         comp.sys.acorn.announce         35
        csa-apps        comp.sys.acorn.apps             20
        csa-games       comp.sys.acorn.games            18
        csa-hardw       comp.sys.acorn.hardware         16
        csa-misc        comp.sys.acorn.misc             18
        csa-net         comp.sys.acorn.networking       13
        csa-prog        comp.sys.acorn.programmer       16
 
The NewsGroups are digested. When the digest has reached a size of
approx. 64kB it is sent to the subscribers. A Mail-To-News-Gateway is
not provided by MailList. Subscribers are advised to use special
gateways for the purpose of posting a message themselves. !MailList runs
(through !NewsBase) on my A5000 which is connected to the Internet via a
long-distance dialup SLIP connection (using !TCPIP). Due to the high
traffic on the newsgroups (approx. 64~100kB/day per newsgroup) the
telephone-costs involved are a growing burden on my bank-account.
 
Recently, I have asked Acorn if they were willing to take over the
mailing-lists from me. Unfortunately, this was not possible at that
time.
 
This is my last attempt to save the mailing-lists from going under. In
my view the mailing-lists serve a purpose and should not be allowed to
shutdown. Through this posting I'm requesting the Internet-community to
help us find a new site for these mailing-lists. Ofcourse, the perfect
site would be acorn.co.uk but I have no high hopes.
 
If you know of a site that wants to take over these mailing-lists (Be it
using LISTSERV, ListProc, MajorDomo, !MailList or whatever) please
contact me on [log in to unmask]
 Over the past few months I've had my fair share of guesswork and
run-arounds (ie. "Maybe Mr. So-and-so can help you." or "Maybe
postmaster@foo.bar.net..."). So, please only respond if you know for
sure.
 
--
Maurice Hendrix
 
        "Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines
        are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning
        travel in a straight line."
                                        - B. Mandelbrot -
 
...What's pink and hard?  - A pig with a flick knife.