On Mon, 26 Jun 1995, David Boyes wrote: > > A few students have said, I > > want my own Listserv list. I haven't been approached seriously yet, but > > it will happen any day now. > > My position is that Listserv Lists on campus are for the academic > > community, not for individual use for presenting one's habits, providing > > recreation, or a forum for indivdual tastes, etc., I think they can do > > that on usenet. :-) > > Realistically, how are mailing lists different in terms of > expression? I'd argue that mailing lists are in some ways more > efficient than newsgroups -- random newsgroups for silly purposes > waste a shared resource (news spool area space), while mailing > lists only waste the disk quotas of people who choose to > subscribe. You are abolutely correct. In fact, I was wrong to even suggest a comparison with regard to this issue. I am biased about this issue and I am also willing, based on Chris's mail, to even admit that I may not be being very fair to students. There is no set 'policy' regarding the use of Listserv for mailing lists, which is why I posted. When I heard that some students wanted their own personl Listserv list (just as in their own personal www pages), I reacted negatively and thought I would check it out here. We do indeed have students as List-owners, but they manage international lists related to academics or to issues of interest that extend beyond their personal friends. I just reacted negatively to creating a list called "Doe-L" for "The friends of Charly Doe" to chat. Granted they all have access to IRC, Usenet, and Moo.... > Charge a nominal fee -- say $10 per list per semester -- for the > privilege. $10 isn't excessive, but it will give a sense that the > service consumes some amount of resources that aren't free. It > also gives the appearance of giving them what they want while > discouraging the truly frivolous lists...8-). Well, although I have just gotten approval to charge a minimal fee for external lists, the students would cry in rage since we don't charge other students/faculty/staff for non-personal lists. Your point is well taken though....it is a good idea. Thank you for taking the time to reply. --Trish