The HES (History of Economics Societies) list was started in Feb of 1995. We currently have 862 members from countries around the world. Here is part of the message you receive when you join the list: ***** The HES list is a moderated email discussion list sponsored by the History of Economics Society and the European Society for the History of Economic Thought. Subscription is open to anyone interested in the history of economics and/or economic thought who is willing to participate in email discussion with an attitude of mutual respect. HES features: discussion of persons, themes, sources and historical methods in the history of economics; announcements of funding, Internet resources, conferences and other events; requests for information and some answers; and exchanges about teaching the history of economics. ***** As your moderator, I am responsible for making sure that the discussion stays within the bounds of the history of economics. Many of our discussions spiral out of control and my job is to prevent that from happening. I reject messages with an explanation. If you are an author, I can use your help in a variety of ways: 1) Please avoid one liners. The list isn't a chat room. Your message will be archived and threads will be available for future scholars. 2) On the other hand, please do not post extremely long messages. Most people do not read messages that are more than a few paragraphs long (except for this one :-)). 3) Although I understand that the history of economics is a safe haven for a variety of heterodoxies, the HES list is really not the place to discuss current economic policies. 4) Finally -- and here I'd like to be careful, but clear -- please remember that your posts are not just private notes to someone, but a worldwide publication. My moderation net has big holes since this isn't a refereed journal, but you can improve the quality of the conversation. I reject messages that are outside the scope of the history of economics, but I am uncomfortable rejecting messages based on quality of content. I need your help here. Do not fire off-the-cuff responses. Imagine that some of the top scholars in the history of economics are going to read your message -- as they surely are. I'd like to thank those of you that have offered to carry on discussion off list. You do not have to respond to every post or you can respond in private if the conversation is taking you outside the bounds of the history of economics. Putting snippets of text to which you are responding and deleting the rest of the previous text is also helpful. Remember, the messages are in an open, searchable archive (http://eh.net/pipermail/hes/) so there is no need for a trail. If you are exclusively a reader, please consider contributing in order to improve the conversation. Unlike a classroom setting, I can't simply call on you. I welcome your support in moderating the list. Let everyone know what you think about the conversation and why. We might not all agree on exactly how the HES list should be run. Some might want only announcements and CFPs, while others are comfortable with more of an open chat room style where anything goes. I hope, however, that everyone will agree that the HES list is a wonderful resource for historians of economics. We are a worldwide community of scholars that can discuss issues in the history of economics at a high level. I welcome any feedback or suggestions, either privately ([log in to unmask]) or to the HES list ([log in to unmask]). Thank you. Humberto Barreto