Hi all,

I'm glad to see positive movement towards a new list.
I sincerely hope that whatever arises from Audities ashes
not repeat the mistakes I made with administration.

Firstly, I will certainly keep Audities running until
that time when whatever comes next is operational.

2nd, this week's activities were not the cause but more
an excuse. Keeping this list operational, I realized,
even under new management, would not solve its problems.

3nd, I don't own the Audities name; that would be Gary
(an maybe Anthony, wherever he may be). But I implore
that whatever comes next have its own identity, and not
live under the "spectre of Audities" (a little joke).

This list was never intended to be more that extension
of Audities magazine, which unfortunately due to the dual
troubles of the founders didn't survive past the list's
first few months. Thanks to the civility of the founding
subscriber base the list flourished and grew, and kept
its virtue. And did so for years, thru ebs & flows. So
please celebrate the good times, and learn from the bad.

I'm sure you all know the good times quite well, but I,
and this list as a organism, fared poorly in some areas.

Women list members have not been treated well at times.
I see there's discussion of creating a governing body;
may it be balanced in that regard.

A governing body takes the heat off in so many ways. I
was eventually overwhelmed, and stupidly never set one
up though I knew it was the right way to go. It should help
makes difficult decisions less personal (barring cronyism).

The use of moderation: I used this feature far to seldom
to regulate the posting behavior and content of problem
members. New Audities subscribers were also moderated
automatically for the 1st few days & posts.That feature
helps prevent spam and trolls.

Hint: Google Groups list owners do have the capability to
moderate individuals if necessary, but I haven't been
able to find a feature that moderates new subscribers.
But if moderation is set as the list default, one can
manually "un-moderate" new subscribers afterwards.

Moderators: Have plenty. People have lives, 24x7x365 is
impossible for a single or a few individuals.

If I could point to one mailing-list that has taken the
concept of "community" the farthest, it would be Spectropop.
They have a different membership base that ours, for
tribute and research of a bygone era than contemporary
coverage. But their spread beyond the list itself is quite
impressive. Re: http://spectropop.com.

There is no reason that the positive spirit of Audities
cannot overcome the negative, and get back to business
with new blood at the helm.

It was a fun ride, even with the bumps. Thanks everyone for
your contributions. I now have a wall of Insanely Great Pop,
little of which I would have discovered without Audities,
The Mailing-List. Again, thanks so much everyone.

My only request is that someone get Jordan Oakes to join
the new entity and make an occasional post! :)

  - Michael