[KS] Administrivia and a position on the romanization issue

[Robert C. Provine]

Dear Korean-Studies list:

It seems like the List takes off, one way or another, each time I go
away to a conference.  This time I've come back to find a discussion of
fonts and computer programs, a distressing development in the
romanization saga, and a discussion following up on a (non-list) message
dealing with poverty in Russia.  Several points:

1) The fonts discussion seems to me a worthy one, insofar as all of us
face this technical problem in our writing, and a solution (or even a
partial one) would be most welcome.  But in this, as in all other
discussions on the list, let's don't forget that the list exists for
academic discussion of Korean studies, and we should keep it at that
level.

2) The message about poverty in Russia did not circulate on this list,
but it appears that the senders of the message obtained a copy of our
individual email addresses and emailed us all separately.  This is a
reasonably sophisticated thing to have done with computers, a bit of
circumstantial evidence that the senders, whatever their economic
status, had access to pretty good knowledge of how to do such things. 
Whatever the merits of the case presented by the original email senders,
discussion of Russian affairs is inappropriate to this list.

3) I have decided to make the addresses of members of the discussion
list unobtainable except by members.  This means that it will no longer
appear on the list's web page, and that you'll need to get it by email. 
All you need to do is send an email to mailbase at mailbase.ac.uk, with the
following message:

review korean-studies

The server will check your email to see that you are a member, and if
you are, it will send you the addresses.  If you are not a member, or if
you have some technical problem with your address, it will not send you
the addresses.  Let me know if you have a problem with this procedure.

I hope this will solve the spamming irritation; we have been remarkably
free of such annoyance so far.  On the matter of subjects of discussion,
Stephen and I still favor openness and good will rather than censorship,
and we'll proceed that way until moderation becomes necessary.  Should
the need arise, it is technically perfectly possible to close new entry
to the list (except by specific permission from Stephen or me) and if
necessary to exclude specific persons from the list.

4) On the romanization issue:  I will be making it clear to my Korean
contacts that under no circumstances will I allow a piece of my work to
be published in Korea or anywhere else using this appalling "new"
system.  Perhaps if all who agree with that stance take the same action,
it might have some effect.  It would be interesting to know what
position journals like _Korean Studies_ and the _Korea Journal_ plan to
take in this matter.

Rob Provine
r.c.provine at durham.ac.uk



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