From: pierre@shell.portal.com

Who qualifies whom, based on what info, and to eliminate whom?

As the Internet becomes more diverse and less the domain of programmers and scientists, it is natural that other means of selection are needed for membership in a group. The traditional academic atmosphere of mailing lists will evolve away from total openenss. Here are some possibilities: 1. By invitation only--members sponsor new members. 2. By trial period--new members are lurkers on the main list and a subset of the members can see their postings or they must first be moderated. 3. Qualifications--could range widely. 4. Tests. 5. All of the above.

From: owen@autodesk.com

with authentication qualifications for *entry* or transaction

The Extropians list already does this--not totally secure, to be sure, but you must let the list administrators know all your posting nodes. Paul E. Baclace peb@procase.com