On 2 Sep 2004 at 17:35, Frits Westra wrote: > I'd rather not translate the current FAQ with superseded information. It's > unclear to me whether you'll ask Gerry for permission to edit the English > version. Or do you have other intentions with it?
You are right -- version 10 really is old. Gerry has either retired completely or is on a very long bike ride. We can't contact him. But, while I was checking through some old emails from two years ago, I found at least one that clearly stated his intention to relinquish all reponsibility for the FAQ. I had forgotten about that, because at the time I agreed only to take on admin of this list. I would ask him if I could -- but all mail to expita.com bounces, so I can't ask him, and now I don't think it is necessary. I see no obstacle to editing the current FAQ as version 11. I'm sure Gerry would agree. The updating itself should not be difficult -- the information is all in the list archives and heads of members -- but the distribution of the FAQ will be a problem. Right now, there is a weekly automated posting to alt.bbs.internet, alt.online-service, alt.internet.services, alt.answers, comp.mail.misc, comp.answers, news.answers, and news.newusers.questions. The posts to the usenet *answers groups ensure that the FAQ appears on faqs.org, and on the rtfm.mit.edu autoresponder and FTP server. As far as we know, the automated posting originates on expita.com, which is running on auto-pilot. The posts can only be stopped by Gerry. This is how it works. FAQs and other important documents posted to the usenet *answers groups are archived at the discretion of the group moderators. faqs.org updates automatically from those archives, and rtfm.mit.edu updates from faqs.org. We need to maintain continuity if we can, but obviously we cannot post new versions to the newsgroups while version 10.2 is being posted. The solution is to contact the newsgroup moderators and ask them to accept the new FAQ and block the old one. So here is my proposal ... 1. Produce ACCMAIL FAQ version 11 as soon as possible, in a format and style that is similar to previous FAQs. Although I would prefer it to be seen as a collaborative exercise rather than work of one person, I am very willing to do this. I have already assembled much of the required material. 2. Do everything we can to get the new FAQ accepted on the newsgroups. I do not anticipate any difficulty, except finding out who the moderators are. But if that fails, publish the new FAQ under a different name, eg: the Email-Only FAQ version 1. 3. Initiate a debate (if anyone is interested) on this list about how the FAQ could be improved. Personally, I think it should be oriented more towards non-anglophone users and their needs -- but most of all I would like to find out what other subscribers think. 4. If there is a general concensus for a change in style, tone, content or format, publish version 12 to mark ten years of ACCMAIL ... it started in 1994, when the Internet was already established, but the WWW had just begun. -- szs `at` szs `dot` net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To contribute to the discussion, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, email to the *admin* address [EMAIL PROTECTED] with UNSUBSCRIBE ACCMAIL as the message body. To get the latest version of the ACCMAIL FAQ, send a blank email to accmail.faq.en `AT` szs.net (replacing `AT` with @ to form a proper email address). ----------------------------------------------------------------------
