I always regret having to post administrative messages to the Forum, but I've saved up a couple of important messages for this single message. The first part concerns World Wide Web issues, the second explains a new policy of semi-moderated list posting, and the third explains how to sign off the list. WEB MISCELLANY I am pleased to announce that the log files of the Mark Twain Forum (from March 1992 to the present) are now available on the World Wide Web via the Forum's home page at the following URL: http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/forum/twainweb.html Please note that the URL has changed, and so you should update your links accordingly. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I assure you I didn't do it for the sake of change alone; rather, as I added the Forum's log files to the existing page, I discovered that they were so large that they exceeded my disk quota. With the increasing amount of data that I expect will show up on the Forum's page, it was best to find a larger and more stable home. I expect that the above URL will exist for the next two years or more, which is as much stability as one can home for when it comes to computers and the net. The log files are still available in the traditional way from LISTSERV, but--as several members have already noticed--the database search routine described in the Survival Guide no longer works. When the Forum's host upgraded to the new version of LISTSERV a few months ago, we got some nice new features (like the digests option), but lost others, such as database searching, and the filelist. The author of LISTSERV, Eric Thomas, has told me that these features will likely return to later versions, but in the meantime he is giving priority to developing a Web interface for LISTSERV, since that's where the largest demand is. In the meantime, I hope the new Web archive will offer a more user- friendly way for you to browse the Forum's archives. You can just click on each month and do a keyword search on it with your browser, or download the log files to your PC and search them there. If you don't want to download the files, just send me an IBM-formatted high-density disk and a self-addressed, stamped disk mailer, and I'll gladly send you a self-extracting ZIP file of the Forum logs. Alternatively, if there is demand, I can put the ZIP file on the web page. I'm currently pursuing a couple of excellent suggestions from Web guru Jim Zwick about making the log files more easily searchable on the Web, but by the time I can implement them, the new version of LISTSERV may well be realized. Please be patient with me; I also used to use the database search routine rather frequently, and am finding it inconvenient not to be able to use it anymore. Several people have sent me texts of various kinds for the Forum's filelist. I have to apologize to them for what must look like indifference on my part, but--as explained above--the Forum filelist has unfortunately become dormant with the new version of LISTSERV. The technical staff at York U have been kind enough to make the old files available in some unusual way (I don't think it's as described in the Survival Guide), but--with the help of several members who have kindly volunteered to be Web page editors--we'll soon start putting files up on the Forum's Web page. Again, I apologize to the people who've been so kind as to donate files. I do appreciate your effort in sending them to me, and I hope you'll be patient as I re-organize things around here. I'm not a big fan of the Web myself, but it's really becoming clear to me that (like it or not) the Web is going to form a big part of our lives really soon--not just for Twain things, but just generally. If you haven't yet got onto the Web, then, I strongly encourage you to do so, as I suspect that more and more of the Forum's utility will have to be delivered via that medium. If you've managed to figure out some of the esoteric LISTSERV stuff, you certainly won't have any problem figuring out the Web. It's quite easy to use; it's like watching TV, except that it's a bit more interactive, in that you navigate individual Web pages by pointing and clicking with the mouse, using a browser program like Netscape or Mosaic. If you're at a college or university, it's likely that the Web is available to you right now. And I know that many commercial services provide Web access, too--for a price. If you're not into a graphical point-and-click environment, there is a text-based browser called Lynx that you can use equally well for browsing the Forum's archives and other text files on the Web. NEW POLICY OF SEMI-MODERATION Several weeks ago I quietly introduced a new policy for list postings to the Forum, which has been made possible with the new version of LISTSERV. As long-time members know, occasionally someone signs on here and posts an irrelevant advertisement (a "spam"), and other times someone asks a question that should be addressed at the library. Some members have wondered whether the Forum should be moderated in order to prevent these kinds of messages. I, and most members, feel that the list should _not_ be moderated, since this allows the fastest exchange of messages. The policy has always been that the members themselves must exercise self-control, and this policy works better on the Forum than on any other list I know of. But we still get the spams occasionally; those posters aren't Forum members, and so they're unaware of the etiquette that prevails here. Starting a month or so ago, all new members have their subscriptions set by default to REVIEW mode, which means that any postings that they send to TWAIN-L are automatically forwarded to me for approval. From the person's initial message, I can see whether the poster is aware of what's going on here; I approve their posting, and set their account forevermore to NOREVIEW, which means that they can henceforth post directly to TWAIN-L without my intervention. This policy seems to be working quite well, since it offers what I think is a nice middle-ground between wholesale moderation and a free-for-all. As you all know, people are signing on to the net in increasingly huge numbers, and many people are using the Internet for basic research, which--in days not long past--would have been done at the library. When messages like this are posted by new members, they now come to me first; many of these messages are from high school students and new university students who, while having good intentions, aren't aware that many Forum members rightly feel that the most basic requests should be researched with traditional methods (which usually provide the best answers, anyway). Since implementing this new policy, I've already had several such queries. If I'm able, and if I have time, I try to answer the poster's question directly--rather than posting it to the Forum--and/or suggest avenues for research. In all such cases, I suggest that if they are unable to find an appropriate answer, they are welcome to post a second message, explaining what avenues of research have already been pursued. Too frequently, the person posting such a question has not even done a preliminary bibliographical search. One of the most popular questions is: "What has been written on _Huck Finn_ and race?" I think that many of us do not wish to see such queries posted to the Forum, until the question can be considerably refined--at which time, it would be more than welcome for discussion here (whatever more specific question is ultimately posed). Before anyone posts a query on the Forum, it is important to check first whether the answer may be found in Rasmussen's _Mark Twain A to Z_ and LeMaster and Wilson's _Mark Twain Encyclopedia_. These resources are excellent sources of information, and so it would be helpful if all of us made an effort to take advantage of them. I just wanted to let everyone know that I have implemented this semi-moderation policy. Although it presents more work for me, it saves our nearly 400 members the hassle and frustration of dealing with spams and messages that contain the most basic kinds of requests. There is a "Suggestions for Researchers" section in the Survival Guide, but many newbies are too impatient to read it, and I don't think that long-time members should have to have their own patience tested because of others' impatience. If we can continue to encourage Twainian research in a friendly and productive way, I hope that we can promote the kind of atmosphere on the Forum that many members have told me they would like most. I have no opinion about the occasional forays about beer; the participants in such discussions have been here long enough, and know each other well enough, to do so once in a while, I think, since it would go against the spirit of the Forum to become suddenly hyper-formal. As I've said for quite a while now: the Forum is in the hands of the members, and is only as good or bad as we make it. For that reason, if there is a strong objection to my approving the initial messages of new members, I will gladly restore the former NOREVIEW default setting. I would appreciate hearing your comments, positive or negative, at <[log in to unmask]>; the reply-to tag in the above message header points directly to my address, and so you can probably reply to this message and have your reply come straight to me, rather than to the Forum. HOW TO SIGN OFF THE FORUM Finally, if you'd like more information about the Forum, please send a message to [log in to unmask] (note: not to TWAIN-L) containing the single line: GET TWAIN-L WELCOME The signoff command is simply: SIGNOFF TWAIN-L which again should be sent to listserv, not to TWAIN-L. If I may answer technical questions, please feel free to send me a message. Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]> Coordinator, Mark Twain Forum