Internet arachnology discussion group/databases

[Mark K. Stowe]

Apologies for cross-posting:

Thanx to the kindness of Herman Vanuytven
(DSE.VANUYTVEN.H at ALPHA.UFSIA.AC.BE) and the computer facilities at Antwerp
University, arachnologists now have the opportunity of joining a roundtable
discussion group (mailing list server) devoted to their specialty.

For the near future we envision that the discussion list's primary focus
will be the creation of arachnological databases on the Internet.  In the
next few years it seems likely that the various professional societies will
want to make it possible to download from the Internet some or all of:

the various information now provided by CIDA
the society membership lists
Vince Roth's Spider Key
the arachnological journals
other existing and conceivable arachnological resources.

The burgeoning Internet databases created by entomologists show how useful
and popular such resources can be.  We hope the new discussion group will
make it possible to come up with some specific proposals that could be
considered at least in a prelimary, informal way at the Arachnological
Congress this summer.

Discussion on the list will undoubtedly cover many other topics.  However,
we suggest that contributors keep in mind the existence of other mailing
lists devoted to acarology, entomology (in the broad sense that seems to
include most land arthropods), systematics/ phylogenetic computer
databases, and the maintenance of natural history collections.  There is
also an 'arachnid' list which is primarily devoted to the concerns of those
who keep arachnids (especially tarantulas and scorpions) in captivity.  We
envision that the topics covered in our list will be ones that are of
interest very specifically to arachnologists and their societies, and that
there may be long periods of silence on the list, interspersed with
occasional announcements and bursts of discussion.

TO SUBSCRIBE (note for those accustomed to 'listserv' software, 'majordomo'
software is subtly different):

send an E-mail message to :

Majordomo at ufsia.ac.be

Within the body of the message:

subscribe arachnology
end

(Althugh omitted from now on, it is helpful to put the end command after
the last command.)

To get off the list send the command:

unsubscribe arachnology

To get a list of members:

who arachnology

For general information:

help

or:

info arachnology

To get a list of downloadable files (such as archived past discussion):

index arachnology

To get one of those files:

get arachnology FILENAME

(These files and some other spider-related files maintained by Herman
Vanuytven can also be obtained by ftp from sesoserv.ufsia.ac.be)


TO POST A MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE GROUP send that message to:

arachnology at ufsia.ac.be


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Mark Stowe c/o Jon Reiskind
Department of Zoology
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
E-mail: MKS at ZOO.UFL.EDU
phone: 904 373 3202, 904 392 1187
fax: 904 392 3704