Re: Simple Minds

Dave Long (dl@silcom.com)
Sun, 20 Jun 1999 21:05:27 -0700


=

> I'd be unlikely to go to the trouble of =

> typing this little rant, putting it in an envelope, addressing it and m=
ailing =

> it to Rohit so that he could just as unlike-ily copy it and distribute =
it to =

> the Forklist via the postal system or courier.

As a counterexample, see Notes & Queries Vol.1 #1 (3 Nov 1849).

Billed as "a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, =

antiquaries, genealogists, etc." and the motto "When found, make a note o=
f",
I see it as a distant ancestor of FoRK, or at least FoRK-archive.

'in short, Notes relating to all subjects ... should meet in our columns =
in =

such juxtaposition, as to give fair play to any natural attraction or =

repulsion between them, and so that if there are any hooks and eyes among=
=

them, they may catch each other.'

'...we are doing a service to writers and readers, by calling forth mater=
ials =

which they themselves thought worth notice, but which, for want of =

elaboration, and the "little leisure" that has not yet come, are lying, a=
nd =

may lie for ever, unnoticed by others, and presenting them in an unadorne=
d =

multum-in-parvo form. To our readers therefore who are seeking for Truth=
, we =

repeat "When found make a Note of!", and we must add, "till then make a Q=
uery"'

Looking back to 1731, we find that the "Gentleman's Magazine", apart from=
=

latency, does not seem so different from a modern mailing list in digest =
mode. =

The forwards from other publications, snippy comments about public =

personalitys, stock news, recent book synopses, and replies, ridicules, a=
nd =

defenses (conveniently threaded) -- all seem so familiar, yet are from ov=
er a =

quarter of a millenium ago.

-Dave

{Notes & Queries}
<http://erl.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ilej/image1.pl?item=3Dpage&seq=3D1&size=3D1&=
id=3Dnq.1849.1
1.3.1.1.x.1>

{Gentleman's Magazine} also at the ILEJ