I have thought about this for some time, since the original post on the
subject, and I've decided to post a little feedback of my own.

The MMD is worth something to me - but it's not worth a slice of off-line
_time_.  I have a pile of things that need to be snail-mailed, and that
pile gets bigger all the time, not smaller, and already includes a variety
of mechanical music items.  It's hard enough putting by time to do bills,
putting by time to process a check, even for something worthwhile, would 
likely drop it off my personal radar as something to do "some-day" - and
in the meantime, I'd drop off the list.  Maybe I'd be back, maybe not,
maybe in month, maybe in a year.  I have way too many demands on my
time, it would not take much of a straw to break _this_ camel's back,
because I know in my heart that back has been broken many times before,
I _live_ with that camel's back creaking loudly.

Nevertheless, I _am_ sensitive to the time that Robbie and Jody invest
in this enterprise, and I am not unaware of the monetary investment.
I have been mulling over some suggestions that might be of longer-term use.

First suggestions: reduce the editing.  While it is very nice to get
reformatted, error-checked and corrected (and sometimes even annotated)
posts, I do not think it is a factor in determining success or failure -
and this list stands alone in providing such a service compared to all
the other lists, news-groups and other forums that I participate in to
any extent.  It's nice to have, without a doubt, but if that is one of
the things that makes the difference between a fee list and a free list -
drop it.

Second suggestion: I'd rather see people donating _their_ time and _their_
equipment rather than money and for several reasons.  One important way
is for the people on the net to provide webspace and other computer
services.  Right now, if foxtail goes down, or is jammed up with traffic,
we're out of luck.  If the MMD web data were spread across lots of servers,
with no large amount at any one site, it will reduce the likelihood of a
traffic jam and make access to it more reliable and swifter.  I currently
have ten megabytes of space available on my ISP that I'd be happy to share
with part of the database.  In the long run, a redundant, distributed data
base will serve us _all_ better.

Some time late this year or early next year I will be putting a new computer
on the net with (I hope) full-time net access.  This will be primarily
for my own use, but I plan to put several gigs worth of drives on it.
That too, could be partly dedicated to providing MMD support, and still
serve my own purposes.  I'd much rather see this kind of cooperative
support, rather than just donations.

Third suggestion: there are two principal objections to using a newsgroup
rather than a mailing list, aside from questions of editing.  First is
that unmoderated newsgroups can quickly drive away the core people we
most want to keep with uncontrolled angry, strident, or provocative posts,
and second is the exposure to spam and the harvesting of email addresses
for the purpose of sending us more of it.  Both of these objections can
now be dealt with more effectively than they could have been even a year
ago.  New moderation technology includes the use of retro-moderation,
where the moderator can be eliminated as the bottleneck, but can still
have the power to eliminate offensive posts and spam, and robomoderation
can go a long way toward automating even that.  New mail filters are
coming into use to control the harvesting of email addresses from public
forums, and there is already a group lobbying Congress to make email
spam outright illegal (see http://www.cauce.com/ to see how to help -
they need sponsors).  While I would not urge this course be adopted yet,
I do think it needs to be seriously considered before we think about
charging money.

I don't begrudge some remuneration to Jody or Robbie - they do a splendid
job with the list as is, and I've enjoyed it immensely.  But charge money
for it, and it goes into the bill pile, gets paid when I get around to
it, and participation in it gets reconsidered when- ever I have to do
another check - not so much because of the cost of the service, but
because of the time it costs me to _spend_ that money, time I desperately
wish to conserve.

If people want to donate money or equipment and that seems to do the
job, that's just peachy.  Maybe I'll even get around to donating
something myself.  But if it comes to charging for the list, well,
I think I know myself well enough to know that that will put me over
budget in time, if not money.  When it comes to this kind of thing,
I just don't get around to it.  It has taken me six months to order
a book just because the publisher can't take a phone order and a VISA
number.  The MMD would get much the same, for the same reason.

regards,
Larry Smith