On Sun, 27 Feb 2000, Met History wrote:

> Dear subscribers:
>
> Did you know that there are "list owners"?  This is a select group of deep
> thinkers <<<Ken Follett, Mary Krugman, Met History, Pam Blythe and Dan
> Becker>>> who get almost-daily messages like the following:
[...]
> Also, when people sign off or on we get notices - the cancellations are
> usually massive after a spate of Arkie dialect.
>
> We also get to change the motto, and delete subscribers (so be nice to us).
> Also children born to the list must be named after a list owner (Gee,
> Michael, there are plenty of girls named "Dan"!).  Probably this makes you
> very jealous - it should.  We will try to wear our mantle lightly.  (What
> nitwit changed the motto to "Infarct..." anyway?)

And the status of List Owner is not a lifelong entitlement.  I was once
among the anointed who bravely bore the burden of receiving and disposing
of such notices.  But, much as I was tempted, I never changed the list
motto, never added or deleted anyone.  After a time, I think, my powers
atrophied from lack of use, and I drifted back over the imaginary line
that separates the Owners from the Ownees.

---
Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com