Date:         Wed, 30 Sep 1998 05:53:56 -0400
Reply-To:     Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Sender:       Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From:         Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Subject:      Re: Textbook Status
To:           Multiple recipients of list LOJBAN <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
Message-ID: <907149296.2013303.0@listserv.cuny.edu>
Content-Length: 5177
Lines: 111


>On Sep 29, 10:11am, John Arley Burns wrote:
>> Logical Language Group <lojbab@access.digex.net> writes:
>>
>> > Monthly status reporting would be meaningless, and quarterly would
>> > be nearly so.
>
>I joined the list last night.  Before then I'd been wondering if the
>community had fallen apart, as none of the Xiron web pages seemed to have
>been modified this year,

Please understand that the Xiron Web pages are a volunteer effort on
the part of one person, Veijo Vilva, who is able to offer it because he
manages a set of machines, including the Xiron machine, that has space
for us, and because he(sometimes) has time to work on pages for Lojban.
We support Veijo as much as possible, but have no d
irect management of
the Web site.

If you want to see more stuff up on the Web pages, including indications
that the project is active, then you have to work with Veijo, and not with
"Lojban Central".

>and it seemed that the archive of the list had stopped
>last year as well.

Archiving the list has also been a volunteer function.  Several people keep
personal archives of the list.  John Cowan used to keep a list archive and
supply it to Veijo periodically.  But I understand that his current ISOP is
somewhat unreliable as an arhciving site.  If people want a  good archive, again

again, someone needs to just DO it.

I won't ask for things for the Web site, because I almost never go there.
Indeed, I use a shell account and lynx for 99% of my net access, and hence
almost completely avoid the Web in general.  I have no idea what is and is
not on the Web site as opposed to what could be there, except to know that
Veijo maintains a  mirro of our ftp site here at digex, which IS the o
fficial
repository for Lojban materials, and you can access all those materials from
the Web page.  All other bells and whistles are Veijo's doing, and I have
no idea what is involved, nor find much use for such things.

I guess I am saying that looking to me for any improvement in our Web page is
not gonna happen.

>The basic meaning of a monthly status report is that someone is still around
>to give the report.

The place to find out the status of the project is Lojban List, so you have
come to the right place.

I understand what you are saying, but I know that a monthly LLG status repor
t
would be such that we would only change the date.  It sounds hard to
arsh, but I
will not be bothered to perform such an exercise, nor to bug Veijo to perform

it for us.  If I have news tro report, I do report it - here on Lojban List.
If you want to remain current, you will have to subscribe either continuously o
be.  I recognize that
not everyone can do so - they have other commitments inm their lives.  But
we also have other commitments in our lives.  No one is paying us to produce
Lojban materials, and indeed the organization is a drain on my finance
s most
of the time.  We would probably need about 4 to 5 times the current active
paying subscribership in order to change this, along with a lot more people
donating money on a regular basis.

>I'd also hoped to see mention of a dictionary by now, but didn't.

There is a dictionary file on the ftp site in draft form.  based on the
decisions that have been made by LogFest, the printed dictionary will probably
have less, and not more, than the current contents of that file.  The pocket
dictionary which will come out first, wuill have MUCH less than that file.

This for people who are on-line, you are best off downloading that file, and
setting up a display/search routine to access it efficiently.

The bottom linme is that the reason there is so little news is because the langu
age is NOT changing any more.  We have successfully baselined it and 95% of our
core materials will remain unchanged for the next 5 years or more.  We WANT
the Web pages to be unchanged, insofar as they describe the language. Every
thing else is for aesthetic purposes only.

I will reiterate that when I am producing a regular status report on the project

project again, it will be  written primaril
y for paying subscribers.  We will
probably make it available on the net on some basis, but that will not
 be the
priority.

My apologies if this comes across undiplomatically - I've been up all night
(my most common way to get tiome to work on Lojban).

lojbab
----
lojbab                                                lojbab@access.digex.net
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA                        703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: ftp.access.digex.net /pub/access/lojbab
    or see Lojban WWW Server: href="http://xiron.pc.helsinki.fi/lojban/"
    Order _The Complete Lojban Language_ - see our Web pages or ask me.