In reply to:

Does the fact that some people do not like using the BBS interface for one
or several of the reasons I've listed before
(http://empeg.merlins.org/archives//empeg-general/2000-May/001443.html)
somehow bother you?

Not at all. You're entitled to "not like the interface". You're NOT entitled to scrape the data available through that interface without explicit permission. Something to keep in mind... I gave you notice, other people might not. They might simply claim you are infringing upon the copyright of their written work. They'd be right. Its something you should think about.

In reply to:

This is utter bull and you know it. The other list is dead, and we both know that it's not because everyone who reads this BBS does it by choice, it's just the only place where posts happen.

I think that's called "voting with your feet"... if the overwhelming majority wanted a mailing list, the onelist.com mailing list would be thriving with the same glory that this web forum is. Instead the mailing list came too late, trying to supplant/supplement an already existing web-forum.

In reply to:

This is not a flame, but even the empeg folks do not post anything outside of the BBS, so if you're not on it, you don't know what's happening.

They're not even required to post here. They do it because they enjoy doing it, not because its a business necessity.

If you're concerned with the way the list is functioning, start a new mailing list and campaign the Empeg folks to subscribe and post to it as well. I'm not against there being a mailing list, I'm against you scraping the content from one source to fill yours.

In reply to:

Have you read those digests? Have you followed threads on them? They're a complete disaster...
I also find it interesting that you're cool with people reading the digest,
but not the digest when it's been massaged a bit and split into individual
messages.

Yes, I have read the digests. If you want to follow threads in thread-format, use the web page. The digests are to SUMMARIZE the day's data. And there's no disparity between my two positions. What I'm against is someone copying the data and re-using it without permission.

In reply to:

I'm not going to make the point that the BBS divided the mailing list that existed, and caused its death, but you get the idea.

Good, because I think the web forum came first... Ah yes, it did. (checking the archives) ... first post in the web group, 5/19/99, first post in the empeg archives 8/24/99....

In reply to:

Are you pissed at me because one could occasionally not want to spend the time to log into the BBS, find the message and answer there?

Am I responsible if you use a message exchange forum that is uninviting to some and that they can decide that they won't bother to participate as a
result?

I'm pissed that, when the wave of MkII owners comes up, there will be great confusion between users who have trouble distinguishing between the web forum, the wwwthreads digests, and your scraped-mailing-list. Your actions will cause confusion among newer (less savvy) Empeg owners in the future, and that annoys me greatly.

In reply to:

If someone could be rightfully angry, that's the mailing list users for
having had all the discussions move to a place hard to access.

Obviously there's a good chunk of the community who LIKES the web forums, because we're the ones who collected the money to upgrade the software. There's absolutely no reason the mailing lists have become lower-traffic EXCEPT that people were already here and this was already a thriving community. I'm sure if there was enough traffic on the mailing lists to warrant it, then someone from Empeg would monitor it and be sure to post on it accordingly (in much the same un-official manner they do on here). Empeg is going to go wherever its customers are, Marc, you're not giving them nearly enough credit.

In reply to:

Yet, I'm not
angry. I respect your choice, I deal with it the best I can (i.e. gateway)
and I leave you in piece.

Good. I'm glad you don't take it personal or anything. We've known each other long enough that I hoped you would just see it as a philosophical disagreement and not as something personal.

D