from the LISTSERV, today's BEE-L membership count:
* Total number of "concealed" subscribers:          13
* Total number of users subscribed to the list:    723  (non-"concealed" only)
* Total number of local host users on the list:      0  (non-"concealed" only)

At this time of year, we have just completed a list renewal process and only
those who have sent in a recent subscription request are on the list, so this is
a good idea of how many active readers BEE-L has.

We welcome all the new people.  For those who are just trying to figure things
out and are wondering about an FAQ, please visit
http://www.internode.net/Honeybee/BEE-L/guidelines.htm
and maybe browse some of the related pages there as well.  They have had 4200+
visits in the last months, so they must be useful to many.

Checking these pages out will give you a sense of the flavour of BEE-L and its
history and how to fit in comfortably.  You might like to browse the archives
from there and read the discussions and debates in the past between some pretty
good beekeepers, some of whom are  unfortunately no longer with us.  Visiting
the guidelines is a good idea for some of the old timers here too, because we
still get some posts with huge sigs, attachments, or excessive quotes from some
who should know better.

Beginners in particular may want to try to also subscribe to
sci.agriculture.beekeeping (s.a.b), a longstanding USENET group that is lately
developing into a very good forum for a wide range of topics from the most basic
to the technical.  I have put together a page at
http://www.internode.net/Honeybee/Bee/sci.htm to assist those who are having
problems getting a good newsfeed to get to read s.a.b and to give good simple
access to a power search of their archives.

allen
-----
Diary, pictures & much more: http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/
Current topics: cell size, worker bee size, package installation,
winter loss, fondant feeding, Pierco vs Permadent,
wrapping bees, AFB, and more...