Below a reprint of an article I wrote on 4/17/1996.  The article
celebrated the first anniversary of the Internet mailing list that became
known as the Mechanical Music Digest.  If I'm doing my math right,
yesterday was the MMD's 17th anniversary.   Oh My, how time flies!  So
much of what I said back then about my excitement about the MMD still
applies that I wanted to quote the entire article.

We've come a long way.  Thank you, everyone, for your participation!

Jody

 [ References:
 [    The first anniversary message below:
 [        http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/199604/1996.04.17.01.html 
 [    The first MMD message ever sent:
 [        http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/199504/1995.04.17.01.html 

    Anniversary of Automatic Music List Digest
           By Jody Kravitz

Its amazing how time flies. Today is the Anniversary of the first
messages sent out to the Automatic Music Mailing List. The 17th of April
was the one (and only) day that the list operated as an unmoderated,
undigested mailing list. The mailing list started at the suggestion of
Terry Smythe, and was "seeded" by a short list that he provided to me.
Since that time the list has grown to about 220 members. Although I've
never published the mailing list's name in either of the two widely
distributed directories of Internet mailing lists, word has gotten
around. We're now referenced in at least 3 Web pages, and the
rec.music.makers.piano FAQ*. Referrals that people send in are
appreciated, as well as the occasional name dropping in rec.antiques,
rec.music.makers.piano and rec.music.ragtime.

Some wonderful things have happened since we started the list. Many
people have had many questions answered. We've had a number of "experts"
in their field share their ideas, and many to-be experts explore ideas
without any flame wars* starting. Recently, we've observed another thing
happening. Participants are getting together and collaborating on projects
that might never have happened had they not subscribed to the mailing
list. Although editing the digest is sometimes a time drain on me, I'm
always excited to see what will happen next.

Thanks to everyone for their participation, and especially to those of
you who've shared your ideas, talents, and creations with us.

Jody

Glossary of *'d words:

FAQ: List of Frequently Asked Questions with answers

Flame War: Personal verbal attacks via e-mail


 (Message sent Thu 18 Apr 1996, 07:32:39 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.)