Nothing stops people with access to newnews groups from subscribing to MUSEUM-L (except lack of awareness and/or interest in it). So, people with an interest, whether it is manifest through poking around netnews or by accessing the MUSEUM-L listserver directly, _will_ "barge in". You can't stop 'em. I really do believe that the greatest difference between the two access methods is the fact that they provide a choice of methods to those who are interested in this topic, and that the noise level will be no greater than it is now. Museums as a topic of discussion are just not that "hot" a topic in most peoples' idle pasttimes. (Would that we be so lucky!!) Peter