 |
 |
Strong disagreement from over here, I'm afraid. I am subscribed to as many subject-specific mailing lists as I can comfortably manage in the time available to me; if the volume of mail rises significantly, I have to unsubscribe or start throwing mail away unread. Most books, unlike most conferences, have publicists. Any consistent policy to accept book announcements across HPSTM/STS/SciComm would open us up to hundreds of messages a month. Surely the obvious recourse, if some people wish to circulate and receive book announcements and some do not, is to set up another list...? JISCmail provides details at <http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/mailinglists/startlist.htm> > I agree with this sentiment. Otherwise, in effect, the list > becomes a parochially British noticeboard for workshops that > subscribers are 'always already' on the verge of missing. I don't follow. Mersenne is an English-language list but in my experience it has always been convincingly international, in particular where Europe is concerned. (There are few North American announcements relative to the size of the profession but that, I've always assumed, is mainly because most North Americans on the historical side of the field use H-Sci-Med-Tech.) And people are typically careful to give sufficient notice of events. > (There actually isn't much intellectual discussion on this > list, and I believe that this is by design as well.) No; it just faded out gradually around 2000-2001, as a flip through the archive reveals. > But there is always a way around the ban on promoting books. I certainly wouldn't call it a ban, just as I wouldn't characterise the walls of this building as a device to ban cars from my office... Few of us would uphold the right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, and some of us are not too keen on the right to shout the ticket prices for Blasted during a performance of Cymbeline. (Or, indeed, vice versa.) All best James