I feel that it is very very useful to have the Lactnet archives open.
Many times I have referenced Lactnet posts **by citing the URL for
the original post** in order to provide background info and/or a
variety of viewpoints on a given topic.  Many wonderful supporters of
breastfeeding are not Lactnet subscribers, yet can still benefit from
this fantastic resource via the archives.  Yes, there is a lot of
personal information in there too, but it's generally of a type that
could hardly be used to harm anyone.

In some cases, tracking down the original poster to obtain permission
to share a years-old post would be difficult bordering on impossible.
For some rare breastfeeding situations there may only be a few
relevant posts over the years, and it would be a shame to lose the
ability to draw on that information.

(Again, please note that I am talking about sharing info from the
archives by sending people to read the original post for themselves.
I have considered this to be acceptable *because* the archives are
open to anyone.  In cases where I know someone can't or won't be able
to access the post online, I do request permission to share a post
directly.)

Occasionally there are more inflammatory posts that one wouldn't want
to end up on the front page of the NY Times.  But they are few, and
closing the archives wouldn't change the fact that they were sent out
to 3000 people to begin with.  Anyone could easily forward such a
post, as apparently happened this week, without the archives being a
factor at all.

I think starting over with everyone re-subscribing is a fine idea, as
there must be many "dead" addresses and permanent no-mail addresses
by now, on a listserv with such a long history.  And it would
probably succeed in weeding out some  lurkers of questionable intent.
But I would argue that the archives should remain open and we should
all continue to consider the whole world our audience when we post.

Margaret
Mom of 2 & one on the way
LLLL, APL
Longmont, CO


>I think the time has come for us to clear
>the deck, and make everyone who still wants to be on it ...subscribe
>again, with us accepting subscribers based on who they are and
>credentials.
>
>Thoughts? I would be game to do this in Sept.
>

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