Firebottles is a great name!

[Michael Crestohl]

Hello Everyone:

I second Jeff's suggestion "Firebottles-List" for the name of the new
list.

"Boatanchors" is already in use.  Whether you agree with the subscription
fee policy or not is immaterial as to the name of this list.  The
Boatanchors-List has been around for 4 1/2 years, had three Listowners
and host sites.  When Jack Hill W4KH became Listowner in December 1994 it
was on the verge of extinction.  The previous listowner, Paul Prescott
N1AAC ran the reflector on one of the MIT machines.  He was called away
for six months on a family emergency and could not maintain the list.  It
was "on autopilot".  You couldn't get on and you couldn't get off.  Steve
Modena AB4L set up a digest mirror site which still exists.  Things were
getting hairy because some of the huys subscribed at work and were
instructed to cease using working time to do hobby things and couldn't
get it to stop.  It just kept coming - sometimes 60 messages a day!
Under orders from their bosses some of these guys sent messages to the
system administrators who were none too pleased about a list running on
autopilot.  Jack Hill stepped forward and moved the list to its present
site run by his friend Phillip Porch, M,D, who operates the server as a
hobby.  The List ran from December 1994 until March 1995 as a free list.
At the time of the institution of the fee policy there were almost 1,000
subscribers.  The list lost about half when the fees came due.

Now I have been receiving the BA-List since 1993 thanks to Jeff Herman
who told me about it.  In my opinion it is worth every penny I pay for it
and I don't care a whit if Jack and Phil are making money on it.  I know
it is one of the best run Lists on the Net - they have spent a lot of
money upgrading the server.  A year after the fee policy was introduced I
believe there are about 600 subscribers.

Some may not like Jack's heavy-handed attitude but he does run a tight
ship and his rules are reasonable.  One of his favorite bitches is
excessive quoting......and one of mine too.  You may not like his
approach but, knowing Jack personally and having old friends in common I
know him to be a fair man.

Jim Lockwood, Paul Prescott and Jack Hill have perpetuated this wonderful
Internet resource and it seems boorish and churlish to try to ursurp the
name.  Firebottles-List is a great name and it can grow and prosper as a
free resource and exchange point for vacuum tube-based communication
equipment.  As I suggested to Dave in an e-mail message, perhaps this
list can find a focus of its own like troubleshooting or catering to
newcomers and their questions.  The Net is a big place and there's enough
room for all without crowding anyone else.

73,

Michael Crestohl, W1RC
mc at shore.net