Note: responses to multiple messages appear below: Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 08:46:19 -0400 From: Paul di Virgilio COMPUMED <[log in to unmask]> I concur with Eric. As I was reading your description, I thought that except for the instruction and case study opportunities I do the same thing for a government and university environment. Why would they pay you? For control over their mailing list subscription. Perhaps you LSTOWN people are spoiled, but try getting on a busy Internet mailing list that's controlled by a person who's just gone off for vacation. Or a funky listserver that you can't figure out how to operate. And, for the right to complain. NO ONE has that right over you (except perhaps for local users who help pay your salary). If I discovered that you were gating my list to difficult participants, I would delete you. With no notification? Certainly that's your right (see previous paragraph), but if my users wanted to be on a mailing list and you were uncooperative, I'd start my own parallel list. That would be unattractive, but who am I to tell my customers what they can and cannot talk about? Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 10:26:12 EDT From: Stan Horwitz <[log in to unmask]> Organization: Temple University Computer Services The idea of selling access to a Listserv subscription service such as the List I run doesn't sit well with me. For one thing, speaking as a Listserv postmaster, my system is run by a state funded non-profit university and our computer equipment cannot legally be used to help someone gain a profit, but I am not sure that in this case, there would be a problem in that regard since I am not a lawyer. If you have any .COM addresses on your list, then you are likely already helping someone gain a profit. I don't imagine the state auditors expect you to find out whether .COM addresses are users who happen to be subscribed at their business address, or whether they are users of an Internet access provider. I don't believe it's a significant issue. HOWEVER, that might not be the only reason you are not comfortable with the ideaa, and I don't mean to diminish or dismiss your feelings. If you provide the access to these lists from a single source to your paying customers, there will indeed probably be reduced fewer for a list's owner if you carry that list. If, however, you allow various users to post and read the list from their own accounts, than probablems such as closed accounts and such will invariably be sent to the list's owner I will rewrite the sender field. That should cause bounces (from compliant software anyway--ask Eric how much of it is broken) to come back to me. And in any case, I want to pick up on a closed account because that means either a lost customer or failing mail. In short, I am not entirely sure what you're doing is legal and I am not sure it will be advantageous to users. It probably holds no attraction to users who are solely subscribed to LISTSERV lists. Sorry to say it, but what you might be doing (in light of recent discussions) is inadvertantly providing yet another gateway to Listserv and other lists for abuse by certain greedy people who want cheap advertising. Now I'm appalled by that as much as most are. I will probably set all my lists to private. That doesn't stop anyone from attempting to send mail directly to the list itself, but that's the status quo regardless of what I do with EMList. Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 10:44:10 -0400 From: Mario Rups <[log in to unmask]> Forgive my obtuseness, but -- you would, then, check every new applicant out with the listowner in question? Sounds like a lot of extra fuss and pother all around. I'll probably send an advisory note saying "I have subscribed Random User to your list; please tell me if you want her removed." Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 20:59:56 -0400 From: Murph Sewall <[log in to unmask]> On Thu, 26 May 1994 23:51:00 EDT, Russell Nelson wrote: >What I *want* to do is sell a service that adds value to mailing >lists. If you could offer a service that would let individuals subscribe (send and receive) to SPECIFIC news groups that for whatever reason aren't crossed to the LISTSERV system--at some cheap rate, say only $1 per month per group--you probably could clean up to beat the band. That's one of the services I plan to offer. >I'm "making money off your efforts"... Perhaps, perhaps not. News clipping services also make money in a similar way. Nothing you do prevents anyone from net access from learning to subscribe directly to most lists, and MANY people already pay for access to lists (through portal, the Well, and others). Your offer of "one stop list browsing" might fly. Yup, yup, yup. Only way I to really tell is to offer it and see who buys. You might also think of running an "automated" clipping service. Well, that falls under the general category of mail filtering. Subscribe to a mailed Usenet group and run it through a filter. -russ <[log in to unmask]> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | ask4 PGP key 11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX) | Quakers do it in the light Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.