With a high-traffic list, one or two years' worth of e-mail archive can
amount to a significant portion of disk storage space.  Not all institutions
may want to apportion such a generous amount of space for your list.  Thus,
editing may be a necessity to institutions with limited resources.

Another point that no one has mentioned is that editing can improve the
search and retrieval (i.e. database) functions of a Listserv archive:

- There are some users whose computer's date is set incorrectly.  (One of
  my subscribers was already posting in the year 2000 -- she eventually got
  it down to 1999).
- Reducing the quoted material of e-mail results in less CPU processing time
  and a more unique (non-duplicative) set of hits.
- For those with web interface, the ability to alter the subject header
  allows for cleaner subject threading - a great way to organize messages

On occasion I've felt that certain threads were self-contained and so
interesting by themselves that I've deleted them from the logfiles, edited
them and made them available as special files of the list's fileserver.

I kind of pride myself and my list, OPERA-L, as creating a "cottage
industry" out of editing the logfiles.  After I edited the first 90, I
decided that subscribers should participate as well -- after all, the host
institution is providing a "gift" without immediate remuneration.  Every
few months I send out a call for volunteers to edit the files, send them
instructions, and let them tackle a file.  Particularly during the slow
summer months, editing a file can satisfy subscribers' appetite for more
e-mail -- even if it's information they read more than a year ago.  (Of
course, I have to carefully proofread subscribers' editing efforts so as to
prevent corruption of the archive/database.)

For those who are interested in figures, I've edited or supervised editing
of over 120 log files.  Generally I find that it's possible to reduce the
volume of a logfile by approximately one-third of its total size.  For weeks
containing particularly silly threads, flame wars, or tons of "Seasons
Greetings," it is possible to reduce the size to half the original volume.

Bob Kosovsky
Student, PhD Program in Music                   Librarian
Graduate Center                                 Music Division
City University of New York                     The New York Public Library
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------My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my institutions-------