It was my conclusion that there was no consensus of opinion regarding
BEE-L logs (weekly vs monthly).  As is commonly noted, ask five
beekeepers the same question and you'll get ten answers!  So I'll leave
well enough alone, which is to say that the 1996 BEE-L logs have been
split into weekly logs vs monthly logs, LISTSERV will continue to
write future logs in a weekly format, and logs prior to '96 will remain
as they are (monthly format).
 
The common thread was that the LISTSERV search capability is woefully
archaic, reminiscent of JCL, not user friendly and a chore to use.  I have
cobbled together a program that attempts to categorize what is available
in the logs by subject (as identified in the "Subject:" header).  My
program identified over 60 common threads, some of which include:
acids, african honeybees, allergies, ants, apistan, bears, bees,
beekeeping, books, breed, brood, boy scout merit badge, buckfast,
bumblebee, candles, chalkbrood, dented bees, equipment, extraction,
fables, feeding, foulbrood, foundation, gloves, hive, honey, honeybee,
insurance, dance language, purple loosestrife, lotion, mites, moving
hives, nosema, nucs, observation hives, packaged bees, plastic, pollen
and pollination, propolis, queens, smoke, sting, subscribing and
unsubscribing, swarms, venom, virus, wax, wintering bees and yellow
jackets.  My program also identifies what logs should be perused to
review the common thread.  Unfortunately there is only minimal
intelligence in my program, 'Subject:' headers may or may not be
pertinent to the body of the post, and regardless, there is still a
lot to download and wade through to get at the information one seeks.
 
The common threads point to subjects that could/should/perhaps are
covered in an FAQ, but what remains to be done is for someone to collect
the logs and separate the wheat from the chaff.  I will be happy to
give to any volunteer, the list of what logs to peruse to get information
regarding any of the above subjects, in exchange for an edited edition of
posts pertaining to the requested subject matter.  This could serve to
augment topics covered in the FAQ maintained by Adam Finklestein.
 
Any takers on this one time offer?  Send requests for log indices to
me directly, spare the list the traffic.
 
Aaron Morris - thinking there's a book out there,
               if one could only edit it!