Mailing list domain - not NAQT

• From: tfmichael1
• Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 20:56:12 -0700
• Message-ID: <000SFD5MS.0015HM85G.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

As much as I hate the "me too" syndrome of
mailing lists and newsgroups, and usually do not speak
out in such a way, the current controversy has moved
me to post. I speak in total agreement with all the
statments I have so far seen on the mailing list issue from
Dr. Tom Chuck.

Mr. Hentzel is an outstanding
moderator. I have been impressed time and time again with
his wisdom, discretion, and humor seen at those rare
times he feels the need to moderate. I applaud him for
picking up the list, and for all the work he has done.
And, though we have spoken more frequently on email
than ever we have met, I have been continually moved
by his overwhelming devotion to acdemic
competition.

Nevertheless, I strongly feel that the mailing list must, prima
facie, be format neutral. A list emanating from a domain
of "naqt.*" is most emphatically not format
neutral.

While the yahoo club is indeed a growing format for
expression, the mailing lists still have more readers - more
than 600 for qb last time I checked - and since there
are people who subscribe to qb-announce and not qb,
and vice versa, the total readership is higher. To
embrace and welcome the entire academic competition
community, a neutral domain site is necessary.

R.
Robert Hentzel has devoted a great deal of time, effort
to the mailing list. His efforts have largely gone
without direct personal reward. The entire academic
competition community owes him a great deal of
thanks.

The issue, however, of whether or not the primary
conduit of information for our community should be moved
to a non-neutral domain is something that should be
debated. I support format neutral.

Tom

P.S.
BTW, it is odd that "quiz bowl" keeps being proposed
as the neutral name for our community. So far as
I've been able to determine, the term "quiz bowl"
originated with the "College Quiz Bowl," a radio show that
ran from 1953 to 1959, and was transformed into
"College Bowl" on T.V. Which is why I refer to "academic
competition" or just "the Sport."