I love the list too and really appreciate what Mike does.  The main
advantage I would see to having a group would be that replies would be
shared with all rather than us having to request replies that happen to
be sent directly to questioner.

Barbara George
Texas Tech University
(806) 742-2985 x 287
xxxxxx@ttu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of Mike L. Varney
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 3:20 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 REALLY came
from, *even when the message is from a list*.  Those who were on the
list
years ago remembered how easy it was to identify the list emails, as
they
were all from "xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG".  Now, they show up as being from
the
person who sent the note, with a Reply-To of the list's address.  Any
list
provider which doesn't conform to this standard will run the risk of
being
hit by spam filters.

Similarly, someone mentioned in-box clutter.  ListServ has *always*
supported not only the "DIGEST" setting (so you get just 1 message a
day),
or the "NOMAIL" setting (where you don't get ANY email, and can look at
the
web archive to read the messages).  The list jumped up significantly in
traffic a few years ago when we upgraded our server.  If the traffic is
too
heavy, I'd recommend switching to Digest mode.

Running the ListServ is no walk in the park; it's not in my job
responsibilities here at HRI, HRI gets nothing more than the rest of you
do
(knowledge) by running the list, and in fact we pay about $3000 a year
in
licensing fees to maintain the software (in addition to running the
server).  Talking about in-box clutter... the list generates between 300
and 400 email messages a day for me, 99% of which are just deleted.  And
that doesn't include fixing all the changed email addresses out there
for
people.

As always... any questions, post 'em here.

-- Mike Varney / HRI

======================================================================
 Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
======================================================================

======================================================================
 Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
======================================================================