Quoting Mrs Dale Peters:

> Like Borchert, I find this level of administrative trivia
> inappropriate to the purpose of a discussion list.  I am compelled
> to unsubscribe and access the WWW page at my own convenience.

The purpose of any distribution list is to address issues which are
stated in what is termed the list's charter. There is no basic rule
which states that a discussion list may not deal with technical
matters. Of the countless lists available via the Internet only a
minute fraction is likely to be of interest to any individual.
It is a matter of course for any list to see members come and go as
they determine whether or not the list is relevant to them.

The ICOM-L charter was forwarded to every list member at the time of
their initial registration. Since some reminder appears necessary,
it is quoted (fragmentarily) at the conclusion of this message.
Please note that *all* aspects of ICOM's public activities are suitable
for discussion here. Since one of ICOM's primary present concerns is
establishing services on the Internet, members of ICOM-L may expect
to see traffic about this subject. Indeed, without a feedback channel
of the sort that only a public discussion list can provide, how could
ICOM ever hope to take account of the viewpoints of the community which
it is trying to serve?

The charter:

"ICOM-L is intended to provide the electronic network community
with a forum for the discussion of ICOM's activities. Official
announcements about the availability of ICOM documents on archive
sites on the Internet, as well as general news and information
about ICOM's scheduled events are made on a separate list,
ICOM-Announce, which is open for public subscription but not
used as a discussion forum. ICOM-L therefore serves as a primary
channel for feedback about material posted on ICOM-Announce.

All members of ICOM-L are welcome and encouraged to submit
material relevant to the purposes of the list as described here.

ICOM-L is intended specifically for the discussion of issues
relating to ICOM and its activities. There are other distribution
lists (most noteably MUSEUM-L) which are more suitable for
general museological issues and ICOM-L should not be seen as
simply one more list to which material must be posted if the
contributor wishes to address the entire museum community."

 --
Cary Karp <[log in to unmask]>       Department of Information Technology
Phone: +46 8 666 4055       Swedish Museum of Natural History
Fax:   +46 8 666 4235       Box 50007, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden