Continuously-running, that is.
I was having a conversation with someone about (Internet-based) music mailing lists (in reference to Ecto, of course) and I realized I needed to find a list of the oldest continuously-running mailing lists so I could define Ecto’s place on that list. My Google skills don’t seem to be working very well so I thought I’d ask you fine folks and make up a list of my own.
The oldest mailing list I know of that’s still running is Love-Hounds, a Kate Bush fan mailing list. It was started on August 16, 1985 by Doug Alan. However it’s really a ghost of its former self because it got taken over by trolls who drove the majority of its members away. Plus, it’s been down for periods of time over the years. Still, it might hold the title of oldest, still-running mailing list. Love-Hounds also gave birth to Gaffaweb, the largest Kate Bush web site and one of the largest fan sites on the World Wide Web.
Ecto, the Happy Rhodes mailing list, was started on June 13, 1991 (born from Love-Hounds), has never been down and is still going strong. Ecto, besides being the inspiration for countless other mailing lists gave birth to The Ectophile’s Guide to Good Music, a pretty amazing resource.
What I want are the mailing lists that come between those two dates (or before, if one existed before Love-Hounds) so I can make a list. Surely there must be Beatles or Bowie or Queen or other lists that are at least as old, haven’t shut down at any point, and are still running (those are the keywords)?