A list archive would mean that there would be a web site where people
could go in order to retrieve specific messages or discussion threads
that had appeared on CASLL. (Some lists offer this feature through
e-mail; you send a request to the listserv server that's operating the
list and you get a message with all the posts for a specific month,
say.) The advantage of a web-based archive would be that it would be
easier to search on and to skim than a listserv-based archive.
We wouldn't get any spam whatsoever if we go with this service; all it
means is that there'd be a lurker out there, collecting and saving the
messages to a web site.
I think we need to take a look at the proposed archive location (which
I'll do shortly) in order to figure out who's running ads there (which is
how the archive operators propose to pay for offering this service). I
think we also need to think about whether this is the sort of context we
want to establish for ourselves. It's akin to asking if you'd rather be
indexed in the _Reader's Guide_ or in _MLA_: more & more academic-type
places are thinking about offering archives (or are actually doing so).
I'm not sure if we want to be in with the likes of alt.barney.die.die.die
. . . I'm not saying we _don't_, I'm just saying I'm not sure. Maybe we
oughta review & discuss our various & sundry options.
Marcy
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Marcy Bauman
Writing Program, University of Michigan-Dearborn
4901 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128
fax: 313-593-5552
http://www.umd.umich.edu/~marcyb
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