Greetings all Important news - the Biofuel list is leaving Yahoo and moving to a new home.
We've been talking here about moving the list ever since Yahoo took over eGroups at the beginning of 2001, but we couldn't do it, for various reasons. That's now changed. It became an urgent matter following the attack on the group by hackers in June, with a flood of nearly 700 counterfeit messages sent to the list, and much worse damage than that - the intention was to destroy the group, and it nearly succeeded. Yahoo was useless, no help at all. As usual. A lot of people have put time and effort into building up this group and what it's achieved in the last five-odd years since we launched it. We cannot leave it at risk and vulnerable, and it's certainly not safe at Yahoo. After relaunching the group following the attack I took precautions that should make an attack more difficult. As explained at the time, that's why membership now requires approval, why the whole list is moderated (though it doesn't work properly), and why messages and the archives are closed to outsiders, as well as the list statistics. But this isn't ideal, and we're still vulnerable anyway, despite the precautions, and always will be as long as we stay at Yahoo. So, finally, we're moving. It's taken a while, but there was a lot involved, and a lot of decisions to make. I'm the "List owner", but that doesn't mean I can do what I like - mostly it's just a technical term, to do with access to the management controls. I'm more like a club manager, I do what the membership wants, and I have very good information on that. But the decisions that had to be made will affect us all, and I didn't think I had the right to make them on my own. So after the hacker attack I invited a number of members, comprising a cross-section of the membership, to join a consultancy group. Some of you have already encountered them in various ways as the "Biofuel list administration". By their own decision they're anonymous, representing the group as a whole rather than any individual member's views. In fact they've been concerned less with direct administration than with what's involved in moving the list, and in planning its future course. We all agree that, as well as moving the list, some changes are required. We've reached a clear plan on how we should proceed if the list is to move ahead as it should. We'll be implementing these changes at and following the change of address. Not everyone will like it at first, but please bear with us. Some statistics for you. The list now has 3,452 members. It gets an average of 50 new members a week, and an average of about 30 new posts a day. Messages have been posted by 1,788 members, and there are nearly 38,000 messages in the archives. I've said before that there are members from more than a hundred countries - actually it's much more than a hundred, but it's impossible to be accurate about it. It's certainly very diverse, and many here think that's one of the list's greatest values. The move is happening right now. You don't have to do anything, or if you do have to do anything you'll be contacted about it offlist. If there are any glitches or problems, or complaints, please don't tell the whole list about it, email the list administration direct at: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> We'll do our best to help you as soon as we're able. No "testing" messages please, if you're receiving messages, it works. At the same time the Yahoo address will be closed - not deleted, just closed, so nobody can join and nobody can post messages. The Yahoo website will have directions to the new list address, and of course so will Journey to Forever. The list will continue to be archived at the infoarchive: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ We'll lose the Yahoo archive, but it's just about useless anyway, and in addition to the infoarchive we'll gain a new archive, which works just fine. Meanwhile please continue as normal, posting messages and replies as usual - if any messages get mangled in the transfer we'll try to make sure they reach the new list. I hope it will be a smooth transfer. Thanks. Keith Addison Journey to Forever KYOTO Pref., Japan http://journeytoforever.org/ Biofuel list owner ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
