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