LAWS@KL.SRI.COM (Ken Laws) (04/25/88)
As I mentioned previously, I will not be able to continue moderating the AIList Digest much longer. I have accepted the position of Program Manager, Robotics and Machine Intelligence, at the National Science Foundation (under Y.T. Chien, Division of Information, Robotics, and Intelligent Systems, Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering). This two-year appointment begins at the end of June, and I have a lot to finish up before then. So far there has been exactly one offer of help -- and that was an offer of relaying services if no one volunteered as moderator. So, if anyone wants to take all or part of the AIList stream, the position is still open. If the situation doesn't change, my recommendation is that AIList cease to exist as a digest and that Usenet comp.ai messages be forwarded to the current AIList readers. Submissions can be sent to the gateway address, which will be announced later. (The gateway maintainer has expressed no objection to making it public.) One problem remains. Nearly every digest I send out results in about ten bounce messages (due to mailer problems and people who have abandoned their mailboxes without telling me). If undigested messages are distributed, each message will produce a similar number of error returns -- for a total of perhaps one hundred messages per day! There are two ways to prevent this: digesting and local redistribution. Digesting works, obviously, but puts quite a burden on the new administrator -- especially if it leads to editing and full moderation. The digesting software is also a problem since I use a version written in SAIL, an obsolete language. (There are lists using other digesters, but obtaining one and modifying it would be a bit of a hassle.) Anyway, I have come to favor undigested streams -- we just have to get Arpanet to solve the distribution problem as Bitnet and Usenet have done. Local redistribution means that we should build a tree of relay sites rather than have most hosts connect directly to the new comp.ai relay. Already most AIList addresses are bboards or alias lists, but we need to go further; hosts need to drop from the direct distribution and reconnect to other hosts. The new AIList administrator will then have to tell anyone wanting to sign up to contact his own postmaster, who can contact a postmaster at a secondary relay site if necessary. All this is a hassle to set up and maintain (with no central map of all the connections), but if done properly it can keep the bounce messages from all propagating back to the central administrator. Well, it's up to you. I'm ready to abdicate as soon as we settle on an heir. I'll be around to help out, of course, but AIList will not continue long in its current form unless someone wants to take over the digesting and administrative duties. Meanwhile, I'd appreciate it if some of the host administrators who get this message would offer to take over distribution and signup/drop duties for their principal cliques. -- Ken -------