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Re: [CQ-Contest] Where did "Reflector" come from?

To: Michael Adams <mda@n1en.org>, "cq-contest@contesting.com" <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Where did "Reflector" come from?
From: N4ZR <n4zr@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 10:27:14 -0400
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
So fundamentally, we're using an older term, no longer quite appropriate, to describe amateur radio mailing lists.  Frankly, I like that - given the low state of much internet "chat" these days, I'd like to see our reflectors remain distinct.

73, Pete N4ZR
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On 6/11/2019 9:36 AM, Michael Adams wrote:
I remember "reflector" from my BBS days in the early/mid 1980's.

I also remember that when I got to the internet in 1990, there was a technical distinction between 
"reflector" and ("mailing list"/"LISTSERV").   Reflectors were "dumb" ways to 
direct email to a manually maintained list of addressees; anything sent to the reflector list, including error 
messages, would go to everyone on the list.

Mailing lists were smarter things, where a program would be used to maintain 
the distribution list; eventually people could add or remove themselves by 
sending a message to administrative addresses associated with specific lists; 
and the program would attempt to filter out error messages (or offer an 
administrator the power to moderate the list) to avoid unwanted traffic (a 
concern at 300/1200/2400 bps dial-up speeds).  LISTSERV was probably the first 
(or at least the first to be widely used) mailing list software, followed later 
by Majordomo and Mailman.

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