It has come to my attention that the term "HOCKEY-L member" isn't quite
as clear as it once was.  I'll use this posting to give one perspective
on my view of a HOCKEY-L member and a little background information.
 
   HOCKEY-L, The College Hockey Discussion List, is now three seasons
   old.  From it's creation at Merrimack College (by Mike Machnik with
   help from several others), to it's transfer about a year later to its
   current host, the University of Maine System, and to today, HOCKEY-L
   has grown to where I estimate over 1000 people regularly read
   HOCKEY-L.
 
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A "HOCKEY-L member" is anyone who regularly reads HOCKEY-L postings.
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HOCKEY-L is now read in many forms:
 
1. Direct subscription to HOCKEY-L.  Often when I have referred to
   HOCKEY-L members in the past I have meant HOCKEY-L subscribers;  I'll
   try to be more specific in the future.  A subscriber to HOCKEY-L
   reads individual postings as separate mail files delivered directly
   to the subscriber's E-mail address.  In-season, 20-35 E-mail files
   per day may be expected to arrive in a subscriber's mail box.
 
   About 350 folks were HOCKEY-L subscribers at the end of this season.
 
2. Subscription to HOCKEY-D.  This is similar to HOCKEY-L in that
   subscriptions are taken and postings are delivered directly
   to the subscriber's E-mail address.  The difference is that HOCKEY-D
   is a compendium of HOCKEY-L postings.  Each HOCKEY-L digest (there
   were about 100 digest postings during this *first* season of
   HOCKEY-D) is 500-2000 lines long and generally contains 10-30 of the
   most recent HOCKEY-L postings.  The postings in a digest are ordered
   by "Subject:" and chronologically within "Subject:" (Thus it really
   helps HOCKEY-D readers if posters make good subject lines and use the
   "Re:" convention when replying to postings).
 
   About 150 folks were HOCKEY-D subscribers at end of this season.
 
3. Direct redistributions of HOCKEY-L.  There a few sites that
   re-distribute HOCKEY-L via various redistribution mechanisms.
   The redistributions are again seen as individual E-mail items for
   each HOCKEY-L postings.
 
   I have no way to estimate the number these HOCKEY-L members.  If you
   run or use a redistribution of HOCKEY-L, please let me know via
   private mail (please don't reply to the HOCKEY-L list).
 
4. Indirect redistribution of HOCKEY-L or HOCKEY-D via E-mail or paper.
   A number of HOCKEY-L members either resend or print and deliver
   selected HOCKEY-L postings to interested folks that either don't have
   E-mail connectivity or cannot afford the time to read all postings.
 
   I have no way to estimate the number these HOCKEY-L members.  If you
   provide selected postings to someone, and would care to devulge it,
   please let me know via private mail (please don't reply to the
   HOCKEY-L list).
 
5. HOCKEY-L or HOCKEY-D postings are hung on several dorm, fraternity,
   and locker-room hallways.  If you regulary read HOCKEY-L postings
   from one of these, consider yourself a HOCKEY-L member!
 
   I have no way to estimate the number these HOCKEY-L members.  If you
   provide or read HOCKEY-L postings in this manner, please let me
   know via private mail (please don't reply to the HOCKEY-L list).
   (I'm really more interested in the location of the bulletin board,
   but I always like to chat with HOCKEY-L members).
 
6. HOCKEY-L postings in a local newsgroup.  HOCKEY-L is not available
   as a NETNEWS/USENET global newsgroup, but may exist as a local
   newsgroup, where there exists a staff person at your site that will
   abide by my rules and that will otherwise be responsible for it.
   Several sites now provide this service.  These HOCKEY-L members are
   not subscribed to HOCKEY-L and do not read postings via E-mail.  Many
   folks prefer this method of reading HOCKEY-L since it does not
   "clog-up" your mail box.
 
   I have no way to estimate the number these HOCKEY-L members, but it
   probably equals all other methods combined.  If you provide or read
   HOCKEY-L postings in this manner, please let me know via private mail
   (please don't reply to the HOCKEY-L list).  (I'm really more
   interested in the location of the newsgroup, but I always like to
   chat with HOCKEY-L members).
 
Yours in College_Hockey,
 
Wayne Smith
Systems Group - CAPS              BITNET/CREN:  wts@maine
University of Maine System        internet:     [log in to unmask]
 
P.S. If you made it to here, you *must* be a HOCKEY-L member :-)