NavList:

NavList is about to roll over message ID 50000. This is an odometer rollover with no absolute significance, but it's a milestone nonetheless. These are messages in the "g" numbering series which started 15 years ago in late Spring 2006 when I became manager of the group (the total of all messages including those before 2006 is approaching 64000). I wrote myself a bit of code a few months ago to message me when we reached 49990 on the message count, and I was actually puzzled by it when it fired off earlier today... :) 

This seems like a good opportunity for a reminder...

NavList is not a "list". It has not been a mailing list for almost fifteen years, though, of course, it is still possible to send and receive group messages by email. The name of the group carries the lgacy of our origins via  mailing list, much like Craigslist, for example. Like the latter, NavList is a community.

Now and then someone will ask me, "well, then what do I say? How do I refer to the group?" Answer: you just did. NavList is a community, a group, an autonomous collective, maybe. And then someone will ask, "How do I tell someone to contact me by email when I would normally say 'contact me off-list' ?" Answer: you just did. If you want someone to contact you by private email, then say exactly that. Instead of treating the NavList community as some "other thing" that you "interface with on the internet", treat it and refer to it as it is: a community, a group, that you mostly interact with online. 

I should also emphasize that the messages in the NavList archive belong to the authors. You have copyright authority over them. The content is yours. I manage the NavList message boards, and I pay for the infrastructure (*). I see myself as the host for the community, and a major contributor. I do not own it.

Frank Reed

* Please consider making a contribution for NavList Operations, if you're able: http://www.fer3.com/contribute.aspx?gid=NavList. I will hold off on the annual push for contributions until August.