The Contra Callers archive is currently public. Anyone can access it here without logging in. You can look at specific threads and share links to them with other people, even ones not on the list.

By contrast, the ECD list is private. If you try to access it here you must log in to view it. 

Both approaches seem to work OK, though I will say I have occasionally run into frustrations with the private list. It's hard to rustle up old threads because built-in search doesn't usually work when I try it (maybe groups.io will have a functional built-in search?) and it isn't indexed by search engines because it's private. I have also occasionally wanted to share threads with friends who aren't on the list and ben unable to do so.

Harris Lapiroff (he/him)

Dance Caller and Organizer
Boston Intergenerational Dance Advocates Board (Cambridge MA)
Pinewoods Camp, Inc Board (Plymouth MA)
https://chromamine.com/contra/

On Wed, Aug 6, 2025, at 10:47 AM, Perry Shafran via Contra Callers wrote:

I don't think that AI is a current worry on the list right now?  I mean, if a public set up means that unsavory characters can use AI to access our list and do stuff with it that is causing the concern of others, it's all related, I feel.   

I actually didn't realize that anything was public *now*.  I thought that I had access to archives because I am a member.  Is that not the case?

Perry

On Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at 10:41:58 AM EDT, Angela DeCarlis <aedecarlis@gmail.com> wrote:


@Perry, have we had problems with unsavory characters accessing our list as-is? Assuming not, let's not complicate this discussion with less relevant concerns! ðŸ™‚



On Wed, Aug 6, 2025 at 10:25 AM Perry Shafran via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

My personal view is that I personally don't care one way or the other - but there seems to be enough concern by others to push the list to being private.  I know that there are many benefits to it being public, but "public" means that all sorts of unsavory characters can access and do whatever with it, and that's enough for me to keep it private.  There's no financial cost whatsoever to membership, so anyone who wants the info should be approved before they get access.  

I'm sure there are benefits to having a public list, but I think those benefits are maintained if you make it private and have people join the group.  

Perry Shafran

On Wednesday, August 6, 2025 at 10:12:01 AM EDT, Maia McCormick via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:


Just my two cents, not an opinion that's necessarily strong enough to sway us one way or the other but figured I'd share:

I really don’t feel excited about feeding the giant capitalist dystopia plagiarism machine. I don't see "improving the capability of LLMS" as an obvious good. I think that LLMs are good for a ton of things, but the current hype is overblown and dangerous and I'm just hoping the current bubble pops before it does more damage.

I agree that if you exist on the Internet these days, it's pretty hard to avoid having your content fed to LLMs; and I think the benefit of having the listserv be public to nonmembers may very well outweigh the costs of feeding the giant capitalist dystopia plagiarism machine. However, I will be pretty grumpy if we decide that feeding the plagiarism machine is the express reason WHY we are leaving the listserv public.
--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194


On Wed, Aug 6, 2025 at 5:22 AM Mo Waddington via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Some of us are UK based, so members of EFDSS not CDSS


On 05/08/2025 22:29, Sivier, Jonathan E via Contra Callers wrote:
There are 2 different elements of a group that can be made private.  There is the archive of past messages and then there is the group itself.  I would suggest that even if the archives are made private, so that only group members can access them, that the groups should still be listed in the Groups.io directory.  That would mean that people looking for dance related groups could find them and apply to join.  Of course, if the intention is that only CDSS members can join the groups then I suppose they shouldn't be listed in the directory and links to the groups could be available in CDSS Commons where CDSS members can log in and then apply to join one or more lists.

Jonathan



From: Sivier, Jonathan E <jsivier@illinois.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2025 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Re: List archives
 

If you are a member of the group, and logged in, the numbers under the months are links to the archive.

Jonathan


From: Keith Elmo Eldridge via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2025 3:35 PM
To: 'barbara153' <barbara153@aol.com>; 'Michael Fuerst via Contra Callers' <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] Re: List archives
 
Barbara wrote:
        > How would I access these lists if you change to private?

I  moved a number of genealogical Mailing Lists from RootsWeb to Groups.io in 2020.  The archives for them are not private and they at listed by month at the bottom of the page for each Group.  E.g. for my Essex-UK Group go to: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://groups.io/g/Essex-UK__;!!DZ3fjg!9gV8o9q6jEA1a6Er2YCQnai2kNjSMwFB65l8lSysasHxZnxWAwmAwH2cSfWqNeEG4wSDNCwz82fqN8Cg8LZa6z_yfaMrrI9N15Iu$
When the archives for a Group are private the message per month are shown, but there are no links, just a number. E.g. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://groups.io/g/Podger__;!!DZ3fjg!9gV8o9q6jEA1a6Er2YCQnai2kNjSMwFB65l8lSysasHxZnxWAwmAwH2cSfWqNeEG4wSDNCwz82fqN8Cg8LZa6z_yfaMrrI3g-yj8$

Cheers
        Elmo
--
--Keith Elmo Eldridge
--Sheffield, England
--I am therefore I dance. I dance therefore I am.

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