Darwin-L Message Log 1:56 (September 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<1:56>From DARWIN@iris.uncg.edu  Tue Sep  7 11:14:17 1993

Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1993 12:20:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: DARWIN@iris.uncg.edu
Subject: Greetings and a plea from the sponsor
To: darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
Organization: University of NC at Greensboro

Greetings to the new Darwin-L subscribers.  This group is only four days old,
and we have grown _much_ faster than I expected, both in subscribers and in
mail volume.  Already we have nearly 250 members.  I will be sending a more
thorough general welcome to everyone in a day or two.  At the moment I would
just like to issue a plea to everone to be patient while we endure some
growing pains, and to exercise a degree of restraint in the use of the
"reply" button.  I am hoping that this group will become a center for
serious, informed academic discussion of issues in the historical sciences.
My worst nightmare is that it might turn into another talk.origins; I will
not allow that to happen, and will pull the plug before it does.
(talk.origins is a usenet discussion group on evolution. The level of
discourse there is very low, and if you have never read it you should
consider yourself blest.)  (Incidentally, if anyone here does read
talk.origins, I do _not_ want Darwin-L to be announced there.)

As the mail volume on Darwin-L already appears to be fairly high, subscribers
may wish to know that they can receive their mail in "digest" form: the
listserv program will collect together all the mail sent to the group each
day and forward it to you as a single long message.  That way when you check
your mailbox each day you will have only one message from Darwin-L instead of
several. If you are having trouble handling the volume of mail this might be
a useful approach to take.  To receive your mail in digest form send the
following one-line message to listserv@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu:

   SET DARWIN-L MAIL DIGEST

As usual, DO NOT send this message to Darwin-L@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu, but
rather to the listserv program, listserv@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu

The list is currently set up so that the "reply" function on most mail
systems replies to the group as a whole rather than to the original sender of
the message.  I am considering changing this so that replies are
automatically sent to the original sender rather than to the whole group.
Most list owners find that this enhances the level of the discussion, and
cuts down on the number of "spur-of-the-moment" replies.  Anyone with strong
feelings one way or the other about this is invited to mail me privately
(darwin@iris.uncg.edu).

I thank you all for your interest in the group.

Bob O'Hara, Darwin-L list owner

Robert J. O'Hara (darwin@iris.uncg.edu)
Center for Critical Inquiry and Department of Biology
100 Foust Building, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina 27412 U.S.A.

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