I manage a Surfnet list called Alpine-L, about rock gardening.  Until
Surfnet upgraded a few months ago from 1.8d to 1.8e, it was possible to
post messages referring subscribers to a specific archives search.

For example, in the following posting
http://nic.surfnet.nl/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0304&L=alpine-l&P=R10416&I=-3
you can see, if you click on the above URL, that the author states, is
his opening paragraph,
"> The following search reveals that there has been no mention of
A[nemone]. n[emorosa]

> 'Viridiflora' in the Alpine-L archives before today.:
> http://nic.surfnet.nl/scripts/wa.exe?S2=alpine-l&q=viridiflora&s=&f=&a=&b= <http://nic.surfnet.nl/scripts/wa.exe?S2=alpine-l&q=viridiflora&s=&f=&a=&b=>
> I think I'm beginning to collect A. nemorosa."

In versions 1.8d, if you searched the archives of your list, you ended up
with a URL that you could cite in another posting.  Anyone receiving the
latter posting could click on that URL, and -- voila! -- there would be the original search
showing all the citations that were found originally, as well as (of course) all
hits that had become available since the URL was originally created.

Now that we have version 1.8e, it SEEMS no longer possible to post the URL for
a specific search.  If you search our archives today, using the same strategy
I used used last April (i. e. the lone word
VIRIDIFLORA) you get a very nice search, but its URL is always
http://nic.surfnet.nl/scripts/wa.exe

This "improvement" represents a very serious loss.  On Alpine-L, a majority
of our subscribers may lack the skills to do good searches, or even elementary
ones.  For many, the prospect is so daunting that they refuse even to try.
It is with great sadness that I view the loss of URLs for specific searches.
It is no longer possible to undertake even a simple, let alone complex, search and to
send its URL to anyone.  NOW, you have to tell them how to devise the strategy and how to
insert it into the proper boxes on the search page.  This is progress?

On the other hand, maybe I'm wrong.  Are there settings that I can adjust that will
restore the ability to display URLs for specific searches?

If not, is Listserv interested in remedying this diminution of the superb
service that used to characterize the earlier versions of its software?

Harry Dewey, Alpine-L
Beltsville, Maryland USA