AUSARCH-L

24th September 2008.

From Peter Hiscock:

It is with regret that I announce the cessation of this list.

Recent events have, as you know, revealed the difficulties and legal vulnerabilities of managing such an unmoderated list, and to moderate messages would only place me as manager in a more difficult position should similar legal action arise. It would be unrealistic in terms of time and prohibitively expensive in terms of insurance to continue the list as a moderated one. I have explored several options in the last few days but none offer a solution to the paradox created by our litigious culture and yet the desire for unfettered freedom of expression sought by at least some list members, and so I will now terminate the list.

Historically I believe this will be seen as an interesting experiment in communication. This list has operated for 11 years. The 1300 list members attest to the broad interest in Australian archaeology, and I thank you for participating in the list. I also thank the many offers of support I have received from people since our problems arose. Of course you will feel, as I do, the sadness of a situation in which the vast majority of list members, genuinely interested in exchanging information about Australian archaeology, are prevented from doing so by the ill-considered and ill-intended postings of a few individuals.

The end of the list will no doubt be inconvenient for a period however we can be confident that both interest and research into Australian archaeology will continue.

I will you well.

Yours in Science,

Peter Hiscock F.S.A.
Reader in Archaeology,
School of Archaeology and Anthropology,
A.D. Hope Building,
The Australian National University,
Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

What is Ausarch?

Ausarch-l is a list-server dedicated to Australian Archaeology.

The purpose of the list server is to facilitate communications about all shades of Australian archaeology (prehistoric, historic, maritime etc). The list server operates as a mail room when you want to pass on information to all subscribers to the list. Messages might contain questions to other subscribers, presentations of information, or discussions of results.

List Archives

To see the collection of prior postings to the list, visit the Ausarch-l Archives (the current archive is only available to the list members) at:

http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/ausarch-l

Please note that the Australian Archaeological Association Inc. does not own, host, manage or operate Ausarch-l. However, the Association encourages members to join the list as it is an effective way to disseminate information to a wide cross-section of people interested in archaeology in Australia. Messages commonly posted to the list include notices of conferences and public lectures and debates on currently topical issues.