There has been some good discussion regarding moving the list. I appreciate the kind offers from various folks to host the list, but I would like to make a case and propose a simple model for moving the list to either Yahoo Groups or Google Groups. I think either of these would work very well for the list and perhaps from what Loris has said, it sounds like Google Groups might have the edge in terms of features.
1. Google & Yahoo are both free.
2. Both offer a lot of features用erhaps Google has the edge here. Many people on the alt photo list have been asking for more features for years.
3. Large servers like Yahoo & Google are more reliable and not dependent on one individual with one computer and one host葉oo many links in the chain that can break.
4. The list could be started immediately on either.
5. You can have multiple "list minders"
6. You have easy security options that can eliminate spam.
7. You can temporarily deactivate a member if they are sending "out of office auto responses" when on vacation with their secretary.
8. You can remove someone from the list if they misbehave.
9. You can make it a private list so that:
a: you can show nudes without being categorized as an "adult list"
b: a private list lets you screen out spammers 10. You can temporarily deactivate a member if their computer gets hacked or gets a virus that causes them to send spam to the list. 11. You can have more than one list owner for redundancy. 12. I think the half-life of a group started on Yahoo or Google is likely to be greater than one started on a private server.
I would suggest that we ask for 3 volunteers to start up the group as "list owners" and post the information for joining on this list so everyone can migrate over smoothly.
By having three members, you could have an agreement that it requires approval of two of the "list owners" to remove someone from the list. Most of you remember situations in the past where this had to be done, though it has been a rare.
If one of the three list minders wishes to retire or becomes unable to participate, that person can easily be replaced.
By the way, how are we going to come to a consensus regarding what to do? I think there are 500-600 people subscribing to this list and only a handful have made suggestions.