The way I used to understand it, there are two types of Internet
Discussion groups - News Groups which can be accessed thru the Web and
are open to anyone to read and/or post messages to (these often have an
".alt" at the beginning of their names), and Mailing Lists, accessed thru
e-mail, and open only to subscribers to read and post to, which was the
original intent of the Parkinson List.
It is true that someone who really wants to read this list's messages
can access them through the Archives, but putting the list online as has
just been done, makes it easily and completely accessible to all Internet
users worldwide. Now anyone doing a search using Alta Vista or other
search engines will have keyword access to our postings - if your name is
included in the text of your message, someone could search for it also.
When people knowingly put information about themselves on the Web - such
as the accounts on the Parkinson's Ring or the Hole-in-the-head-gang,
they are aware that what they have written is available to any Internet
user. When people subscribe to and post messages to a discussion list,
like this one, I think it is with the understanding that it is for other
subscribers to read. Considering the archives, I suppose this is a false
sense of security, but I think the extent of access does matter. An
analogy - If you leave a personal letter open at your desk at work, an
individual who is looking through your desk can find it and read it. This
is very different from your boss opening all your mail and reading every
word, and then passing it around to the rest of the office.
This is a MAJOR change in the nature and purpose of the Parkinson's list
- moreso than changing how replies are addressed. Why wasn't there any
discussion of this first, and why weren't other list members' opinions
requested? I fear this will drastically reduce the numbers of people who
will feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. True, as Phil
said we can use aliases, but I have made a number of good friends from
this list - I'd like to be able to tell them my real name. Can we open
this decision to further discussion and reconsideration?
Linda Herman
