> I believe in databases and searching bee-l files 
> but I also agree that after Allen Dick closes all 
> access to Bee-l search from his honeybeeworld 
> I never finded again the search tool easily.

I am so sorry to hear that the links were deliberately removed.
The address for the search facility is below, and I have created a shorter
URL using "tiny URL" that might be easier to type:

http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L
or
http://tinyurl.com/Bee-L-Search


I do have one comment about a "drawback" of Bee-L:

> It also gives the lurkers an idea of how those with a scientific bent
discuss matters.

No, it does not.
Not in the least.
It is how beekeepers discuss matters.

When actual science is discussed, it is consistently a no-holds-barred,
full-body contact sport.
Occasionally, these usually very private feuds break out into the public
domain, or someone dies and his friends are unable to burn certain letters
before they are found by the executors or the family, as happened in the
case of Francis Crick:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/sep/29/letters-dna-double-helix-fran
cis-crick
http://tinyurl.com/zzhj54a

Most institutions are very hesitant to allow ANY "online public forum"
participation by research professionals, as it tends to end up reflecting
badly on the institution in some way.  It was not always thus, but there was
a smaller community that could access things like Bee-L, as internet access
was far less "universal" in the years prior to the mid 1990s when everyone
and his pet rabbit got online.

I lurked on Bee-L for more than a decade before thinking I had anything of
value to contribute.

I'd suggest that those who hesitate simply ignore the often deliberate
"debate tactics" used when participants run out of factual support for their
claims.
The heckling I get is unusual - I ask pointed questions that leave little
room for wiggling, and thereby sometimes evoke anger and frustration.
I would expect that moderation would simply block anyone stomping all over a
new participant or long-time-lurker.

And it's not "lurking", its "reading". 
There's nothing wrong with reading something a beekeeper says, laughing at
the lack of data with any shred of statistical significance, and then
walking away from the computer to fix dinner.   :)

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