Judging by the responses on the list and off it, it appears that a
number of people believe that those who have protested Mr. Bridge's
directory compilation methods are objecting to the idea of the
directory itself.  Nothing could be further from the case -- the
directory, if properly compiled, will be an excellent resource to
the museum community.  One can approve of ends without endorsing all
means proposed to reach them.
 
Perhaps a "real-world" analogy will make the issues clearer:
 
You have subcribed to "The Washington Post".  You notice a public
notice in one issue, announcing that someone is compiling a directory
of the residents of Washington, DC, as a public service.  You are
invited to submit your name and address for inclusion in the
directory.  For whatever reason, you don't respond -- perhaps you
are not a resident of Washington, but subscribe to the paper because
you enjoy it.  Perhaps you do live in Washington, but don't feel
like being in a city directory, because you know you are already
in the telephone book.  In any case, several weeks later you see
a notice in the "Post" stating that the directory compiler does not
feel that he has received an adequate response to his initial query,
so he has received permission from the "Post" management to include
the entire subscriber list in his directory.  Since the directory
compiler realizes that this may not please everyone, he suggests
that any "Post" subscriber who does not wish to be included in his
city directory send a note to the "Post" stating the fact.
 
I believe that this is a reasonable analogy to what has been
proposed for the use of the membership list of MUSEUM-L.  Would
those who cannot understand our objections to this use, also
feel perfectly comfortable with the compilation of the "Washington
City Directory" described above, either from the viewpoint of
privacy, or the accuracy of the resulting data?
 
       +------------------------------+------------------------+
       |  Barbara Weitbrecht          |  (202) 357-4162        |
       |  Smithsonian Institution     |  [log in to unmask]  |
       |  National Air & Space Museum |  [log in to unmask]  |
       +------------------------------+------------------------+