> I was surprised to learn that the archives were opened on a restricted
> basis to Simon Mohun's student. Jerry says "it happened." I had
> assumed that it didn't happen. I'd like to know more.
My recollection is that Simon asked permission to show one of his students
some posts. Everyone who responded, which included all of the principals
in the debate that the student was interested in, gave their ascent. I.e.
all those who responded agreed; no one objected. Consequently, I think
Simon would be right to conclude that permission was granted.
Unlike Andrew, I am not opposed to this "in principle". However, it is a
rather cumbersome and awkward process. Moreover, we could find ourselves
continually having discussions about whether specific individuals should
be allowed to access the archives. I don't think anybody wants that. At
best, I see it only as a _temporary_ way of dealing with the issue of
access to the archives.
In solidarity, Jerry
PS: I am in favor of conditionally giving Barkley access to the archives
(i.e. that he be informed that he is not to quote in print or on the Net
without permission of the authors and that he not forward posts or reveal
the archives url and passwords to others).