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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A "HOCKEY-L member" is anyone who regularly reads HOCKEY-L postings.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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 :-)
|