Hello to all -- since it's very quiet around here lately, I thought I would re-post my Lurkers Tale which I first sent to the list on 28 March. For those who do not know, a lurker is someone who seldom -- perhaps never -- posts to the list. Now, I know that we in North America and Europe are in the midst of the lazy days of summer. And those "down under" should be snug in mid-winter. No doubt you are all busy with other things in life. But I also hope that The Lurkers' Tale will motivate you to take a few moments to post to the list. I hope everyone will read this as a gentle and humourous reminder from me, your List Concierge, about the purpose of mailing lists -- which is sharing information with others by posting to the list, hopefully on a regular basis. It's a serious message but, listers, please realize that it was also written in a spirit of fun. Here's the Tale...... Once upon a time in Computer Land, in a place called The List, there were two Lurkers. They were unknown to each other but both were interested in the very same thing. Each had come to The List to try and learn more about the thing they were so interested in. Now, both being Lurkers, they preferred to stay in the background and say nothing. So no one else knew they were there. Except for the List Concierge who watched and waited to see what they would do. The List Concierge also knew that there were dozens of other Lurkers in the place called The List. Although she had tried a few times to coax the Lurkers into becoming Posters and Participants, she felt that she hadn't been as successful as she would have liked. Some of the Lurkers spoke to the List Concierge privately so she knew they had lots of questions and also lots of information to share. Because of this, the List Concierge sometimes said to herself "It would be nice if all the Lurkers each spent just one day a month being a Poster or a Participant." Then she would have been content. But she didn't know how to make this happen. Time went by (as it tends to do) and, while some of the things that went on at The List were interesting, none contained exactly the thing that the two Lurkers were most interested in. The first Lurker said to herself, "I'm waiting for the thing I am interested in to be mentioned here." The second Lurker asked himself, "I wonder if anyone will say something about what I am interested in?" More time went by -- but it's hard to tell in Computer Land exactly how much time. Then, one day, the first Lurker left The List because, as she explained privately to the List Concierge, no one had mentioned the thing she was most interested in. The second Lurker, in spite of being a bit discouraged, decided to stay on The List, watching and reading quietly, in the hope that, eventually, someone would say something about what he was interested in. Meanwhile, a Browser wandered by. If truth be told, she didn't actually go to The List although she was certainly nearby. She decided to go to The List Archives to see if anything there interested her. If it did, perhaps she would stay. Because she was interested in one thing in particular and wanted to see if she would find it there. Although she didn't know it, of course, this was the very same thing that the two Lurkers were also interested in. So, as Browsers do, she browsed through The List Archives. She found quite a bit that was interesting and even useful there. But she did not find any mention of what interested her the most. She sighed in disappointment and went on her way. She had heard of other List Archives out there. Maybe one of those held the information she was looking for. And the moral of this little tale, dear listers, is......................???