Thank you Mike and thank you HRI for your many years of support for this
listserv.  I must confess that I was a bit upset when the proposal for
change was first made.  I was upset based on my experience with a Yahoo
Group that I am required to use for other matters.  I much prefer this
listserv.  Google is phenomenal and maybe their Group feature is better
than Yahoo's.  But, if Mike and HRI are willing to continue doing the
job - hey, they've been great!  My vote is that we leave things in their
very capable hands.

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of Mike L. Varney
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:20 PM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] Why The List is the Way It Is...

There's been lots of discussion on RESADM-L in the last week or two
regarding all the details of running RESADM-L and the prospects of
moving to a Google Group.  I'd like to address a couple of the comments
made.

First, whomever was saying that you can't search RESADM-L's archives
just isn't reading the tagline at the bottom of EVERY list message for
the last 3 years or so... <grin>  RESADM-L has always been searchable
even back in the days it as hosted on a mainframe.  In fact, when I
implemented the web-based interface to the listserv, I was able to
import all the archives from the mainframe; so, when you do like the tag
says and go to http://www.hrinet.org, you can search all the way back to
when Liz ran the list in the early 90's.  The fact that people re-ask
common questions is just due to human nature; it has nothing to do with
the availability of search.  In fact, many people (especially in this
industry) will INTENTIONALLY ask the same questions again in case
there's been a procedure or rule change.

Next... regarding the aspect of a "private" versus a "public" list.
RESADM-L is a "public" list, meaning that anyone can add themselves to
the list at any time.  While you would think that would open the list up
to Spam, surprisingly it doesn't - - the fact that the ListServ requires
a confirmation ("ok") email from the user foils all the spam senders out
there.  Keeping the list as a "public" list allows us to facilitate as
many people to come onto and off the list as possible.  Given the
lists's topic, it's in our best interest to have as many
industry-related users out there as possible in one forum.

There was a comment out there about the "vacation" messages sent to
someone who sends something to the list.  There's a reason for that too.
A few years back a new standard for Internet Email came out (one of
those annoying RFCs) which said that all Internet email should use a
proper From: tag.  Meaning, that the From tag should list who the email

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