what do do about pen-l

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A number of you have written about the drop-off in pen-l activity.  Did
we ever think that we could confront such a problem?

Perhaps our biggest problem is the lack of the no-mail option.  Jim Garlick
has done a lot to help us.  Maybe during the summer he can juggle the system
so that it becomes better behaved.

Our other options are to move the list to Colorado.  For those of you on
pkt or psn-l, you know how that system works.  Anthea offered another suggest-
ion.

Let me know what you think.  I miss the old pen-l.
Forwarded message:
> I am writing about PEN-L. It is making me very upset that the migration to
> a new system seems to have knocked out PEN-L.  From being my absolutely
> number 1 favorite (and most admired) list - vibrant, active, and thought-
> provoking - it has almost died.  Now, allowing for the fact that the weather
> is bad and lots of people are still on vacation, I still worry about PEN_L's
> inactivity. I would imagine that you do, too.
>
> Now, one of the things that I believe happened is that, lacking a nomail
> option, people signed off for the holidays, and now don't know how to sign
> back on. I think that the addressing for posts is a little difficult, too
> (probably because it is different from what people are used to).
>
> Anyway, I would like to take the liberty of offering two suggestions for you
> to consider.....both of them involve migrating back to a VM system.
> 1.  I have a friend at ___ (the LISTSERV maintainer), who is
> considered the top LISTSERV person in the US.  I was talking to him about
> PEN-L and the horrors you had to go through to migrate the list when USC
> dumped VM.  He said that he will gladly run the list for you on ----. You
> can still take care of errors and things (although I think he would probably
> help). I use this system with the lists I run....there are four of us owners
> and we are in three different countries, one of them in Japan, but we easily
> list maintenance via telnet into CUNY and it works out seamlessly. You might
> like to think about this option.
> The disadvantages, as I see them, are that ___ is going to dump VM early in
> '95, so the same problem will come up again.  However, by that time, Eric
> Thomas (the author of LISTSERV) will have most of his UNIX and VMS LISTSERVs
> written and running.  Obviously, since he is Mr. LISTSERV himself, Eric's
> version will be vastly superior to anything else available.
> The second problem would be just the work and complication of moving PEN-L
> yet again.
>
> 2. Eric is also about to set up a commercial LISTSERV maintenance service. for
> about $100 a year, he will run and maintain a list for you, so that when ___
> finally gets dumped, you could switch to that one
>
> Anyway, if you see any value in either of these suggestions and would like
> more information, please feel free to write to me.  I'll gladly give you
> any help that I can, including the name and address of my friend at .
> Peace,
> Anthea
>


--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 916-898-5321
     916-898-6141 messages
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx