Subject: ADMIN: Happy 6th, HOCKEY-L!
 
[This is edited from a message I sent on the occasion of HOCKEY-L's
5th birthday.]
 
Today is the 6-year anniversary, or 6th birthday, of HOCKEY-L.
 
I have been asked to write a few words on the list's history.  But
asking me to write just a few words about hockey is like asking Rodney
Dangerfield whether he gets any respect.  The guy will do hours on the
subject.
 
HISTORY OF HOCKEY-L, THE COLLEGE HOCKEY DISCUSSION LIST
It's a little difficult to set the actual date for the birth of
HOCKEY-L, but after some consideration, I have set it at September 15,
1989.  During the year or so prior to that, there was an increasing
amount of college hockey talk on USENET's rec.sport.hockey.  Much of
it was between Keith Instone and myself, as we carried on what often
amounted to private conversations on the newsgroup. :-)
 
In the summer of 1989, Keith and I began discussing the idea of
creating a mailing list for college hockey, mainly to have a place
where college hockey talk would not be swamped by r.s.h's devotion to
pro hockey.  Also, since we were finding that it was easier and faster
to exchange scores and other information by email, a mailing list made
sense - often on newsgroups, you don't see a posting till several days
or weeks after it is made.
 
I was working at the time as a co-op at HP/Apollo in Chelmsford, MA,
while I was an undergrad at Merrimack.  Apollo had an easy facility for
setting up and running a mailing list, so I decided to do it from
there.  The mailing lists at Apollo were not really designed for
outside use and few lists had outside addresses, but I wasn't about to
let that stand in the way of progress. :-)
 
On September 8, 1989, I set up the list, then called "college_hockey".
Initially, Keith and I were the only ones on it.  We spent a week
working out the kinks and finding out which addresses worked from the
outside - some sites required it to be addressed with a semicolon, as
"college_hockey:@apollo.com".
 
When it looked like we were all set, I posted an announcement of the
list to r.s.h and began receiving subscribe requests almost
immediately.  That was on September 15, 1989; that's why I call that
the list's "birthday".
 
The first year was even more successful than we could have hoped.  It
seemed that many people learned of the list through word of mouth, as
well as my occasional reposting of the list announcement to USENET.
During that year, we quickly got interest from many of the DivI
schools as well as some DivII-III schools and also from people
interested in women's hockey.
 
I think it was in that timeframe that the groundwork was laid for many
of the things people have come to appreciate about HOCKEY-L.  There
was almost none of the reckless flaming and woofing that is prevalent
on USENET.  Along with the stats and scores, there was a lot of
discussion about controversial issues that still get discussed today -
but it seemed that everyone was gaining a real respect for other
programs and also learning a lot.  Also, the teamwork that we know
today was a factor right from the start; as people saw postings from
other parts of the country, they jumped in to give what information
they could about their own team or conference, and it benefitted us
all.
 
Towards the end of the 1989-90 season, my co-op/part-time period at
Apollo was almost over, and I was worried that there wouldn't be a way
to carry it over to the next season.  I asked the list for volunteers
to take it over, and fortunately, Wayne Smith offered to move the list
to Maine and to become its administrator, running it out of Maine's
LISTSERV and calling it "HOCKEY-L".  The transfer took place almost
right after the season ended, in April of 1990.
 
This was a huge advantage because for that year, I had to perform by
hand the tasks such as archiving of messages, additions/removals,
handling bounces, etc. even though the list was a true mirror and
anything anyone sent was automatically redirected as it is today.
LISTSERV provided the capability to do all of those things itself and
much more too.
 
And in August 1995, we saw the expansion of HOCKEY-L into a group of
lists devoted to college hockey - including INFO-HOCKEY-L for college
hockey information and HOCKEY3 for DivII-III discussion/information.
HOCKEY3 began in 1992 as a spinoff of HOCKEY-L and it was/is
administrated by Pete Kester, and in August 1995 it was moved to the
University of Maine System under the umbrella of the "College Hockey
Lists".  These changes opened a new era in the history of HOCKEY-L as
it evolves to meet the needs of the college hockey community.  After
five years as strictly a participant, I was happy to return to my
administrative role along with Wayne and Pete as we divide the work
needed to keep the lists running smoothly.  I feel it is the least I
can do to thank Wayne for all he has done.
 
I have said this many times before, but I don't believe HOCKEY-L would
be where it is today without the tireless dedication shown by Wayne.
I was seriously concerned back in 1990 that this venture would fall by
the wayside, but instead, HOCKEY-L has grown to the point where not
only fans consider it an invaluable source of information, but so do
coaches, SIDs, players, ADs, and media.   That is all because of
Wayne's devotion and belief that it could work, a belief which
apparently the rest of us shared.
 
I think that I first realized what the potential of this thing was
several years ago when Merrimack coach Ron Anderson said to me,
"What is this college hockey mailing list?  Today I got a phone call
from a guy in <Wisconsin, Minnesota, I forget where> who said he was
reading all your comments on the computer and wanted to know more
about Merrimack."  I've lost track of the number of coaches, SIDs,
etc. who I have run into and who have told me how they came to find
out about the list.  Today, it seems that almost every DivI program
has someone (coach, SID) who reads the list or is at least aware of
what it is.  And the reception has been superb.
 
Again, I think Wayne deserves the credit for that.  I suppose another
person could have done an equally fine job, but to be honest, knowing
some of what Wayne has done behind the scenes to keep it running
smoothly, I have trouble conceiving of how anyone could have done it
better.
 
So at the risk of flooding Wayne's mailbox, I urge you to drop him a
line to let him know that you appreciate all he has done to make
HOCKEY-L a blinding success.  And while you're at it, give yourselves
a pat on the back too.  Because this really is a team effort, and all
the work Wayne puts in doesn't matter without the combined efforts of
everyone who posts a score, or a piece of information, or an opinion.
 
Happy 6th, HOCKEY-L, and many more...
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
>> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System  <<
***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page under construction at:  *****
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