CHIEF LIST BIGOT--The freshest advices

[ewilkie@mindspring.com]

I regret all the flap about the problem with commercial activity on Exlibris.  I had hoped to have an explanation long before now, but it's not gonna happen so soon as I hoped.  So....

After Dave's complaint about his treatment at my hands, I again looked at Exlibris policy concerning bookseller announcements (as I always do when some controversy arises about it).  As part of this review, I finally checked Berkeley's policies concerning commercial use of their computing facilities and discovered, what seemed to me, to be a real problem with allowing commercial activity on Exlibris.  I tried to get clarification from Berkeley about that matter, but was told only that, yes, there might well be a problem and they'd get back to me soon.  As it turns out, the person who might be in a position to decide is out of town until next week, so I'm still waiting.  But it was made more or less clear to me that maybe I shouldn't allow commercial activities to continue, so I felt I had to stop them, at least for the time being.

One of my chief concerns right now remains sort of diplomatic.  The last thing I want to happen is for someone to go to the Head Librarian or Chief of Computing at Berkeley and say something like, "Did you know the library is hosting a discussion list that allows activities contrary to University policy and that this has been going on for years?"  That's precisely the kind of nasty bureaucratic surprise such people don't like and holds a lot of potential problems for Exlibris's continued existence at Berkeley.

Then the whole thing started blowing up, and I found it so fascinating and revealing that I decided it would be better not to explain anything until the controversy died down somewhat, which seems to be the case now.  I've gotten a lot of useful opinions and ideas both from the list postings and mail sent to me privately.  I just didn't want to stop the disussions.

I would ask that you all not begin some discussion about what constitutes "commercial activity."  That's going to be Berkeley's decision and nothing we say right now is going to influence it.  I'm certainly willing to make the case to Berkeley that announcements such as appear on Exlibris hardly fall into the realm of the commercial activities that their policy might forbid.  But we'll just have to wait to see what they decide first.

Finally, I should add that there has always been an enormous amount of resistance to allowing bookseller ads on Exlibris.  A lot of list subscribers don't like them.  Between what has been posted to the list and what has been sent to me privately, nothing seems to have changed.  A lot of people don't want them on the list, and at best the vote is coming in at about 50/50.  So, for all of you out there who feel strongly that bookseller ads should continue, please bear in mind that there is an equally large contingent (including a lot of booksellers) who feel they should not continue.  But I have some ideas, and if Berkeley is willing, I am hopeful we can come up with some scheme that will keep everybody more or less happy, while recognizing that nobody is ever going to be completely happy, no matter what.

                 Everett C. Wilkie, Jr.
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